Nazim Hikmet

Nazim Hikmet


Nazim Hikmet begins a poem
With the phrase, “Another thing
I didn’t know I loved.”
He writes in a tone of amazement.

He’s a Turkish poet in exile.
He’s on a train in winter,
Leaving Prague and headed
Toward an uncertain future.
The poem he’s writing is a list
Of things he suddenly knows
Are precious.

He doesn’t know
Where he’s going – old man
At the start of a long, cold ride.
The list he recites is also long.

As long as he keeps making that list,
He’s traveling toward the beloved.


Gregory Orr

Posted over on Cold Front Magazine