On Living

Living is no laughing matter :
you must live with great seriousness 
like a squirrel, for example -
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
I mean living must be your whole occupation.

Living is no laughing matter :
you must take it seriously, 
so much so and to such a degree
that, for example, your hands tied behind your back, 
your back to the wall,
or else in a laboratory,
in your white coat and safety glasses,
you can die for people -
even for people whose faces you have never seen,
even though you know living
is the most real, the most beautiful thing.

I mean, you must take living so seriously
that even at seventy, for example, you'll plant olive trees -
and not for your children, either
but because although you fear death you don't believe it,
because living, I mean, weighs heavier. 

Nâzim Hikmet Ran (1902-1963)