Plea - Nazim Hikmet

This country shaped like the head of a mare
Coming full gallop from far off Asia
To stretch into the Mediterranean
THIS COUNTRY IS OURS.

Bloody wrists, clenched teeth
bare feet,
Land like a precious silk carpet
THIS HELL, THIS PARADISE IS OURS.

Let the doors be shut that belong to others
Let them never open again
Do away with the enslaving of man by man
THIS PLEA IS OURS.

To live! Like a tree alone and free
Like a forest in brotherhood
THIS YEARNING IS OURS.

Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963) Turkish poet

In 1938 Hikmet, who like a great many poets of his time was a committed Marxist, was sentenced to 28 years in prison on charges of sedition for a long poem about rebellion. ”. In 1949 Picasso, Sartre and others campaigned for Hikmet’s release, and in 1950, the year he was released by Turkey’s first democratically elected government, he received the World Peace Prize.