SocialistStories حكايات اشتراكية

This is a short poem by Turkish communist writer Nâzım Hikmet Ran:

A Sad State of Freedom

You waste the attention of your eyes,

the glittering labour of your hands,

and knead the dough enough for dozens of loaves

of which you'll taste not a morsel;

you are free to slave for others-

you are free to make the rich richer.

The moment you're born

they plant around you

mills that grind lies

lies to last you a lifetime.

You keep thinking in your great freedom

a finger on your temple

free to have a free conscience.

Your head bent as if half-cut from the nape,

your arms long, hanging,

your saunter about in your great freedom:

you're free

with the freedom of being unemployed.

You love your country

as the nearest, most precious thing to you.

But one day, for example,