Autobiography Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNEOPQRS TEUVWJXYZIA2B2C2D2E2 F2G2H2I2I2J2RK2L2M2N 2O2P2Q2R2S2T2EU2V2W2 X2Y2E IZ2 W2| I was born in | A |
| I never once went back to my birthplace | B |
| I don't like to turn back | C |
| at three I served as a pasha's grandson in Aleppo | D |
| at nineteen as a student at Moscow Communist University | E |
| at forty nine I was back in Moscow as the Tcheka Party's guest | F |
| and I've been a poet since I was fourteen | G |
| some people know all about plants some about fish | H |
| I know separation | I |
| some people know the names of the stars by heart | J |
| I recite absences | K |
| I've slept in prisons and in grand hotels | L |
| I've known hunger even a hunger strike and there's almost no food | M |
| I haven't tasted | N |
| at thirty they wanted to hang me | E |
| at forty eight to give me the Peace Prize | O |
| which they did | P |
| at thirty six I covered four square meters of concrete in half a year | Q |
| at fifty nine I flew from Prague to Havana in eighteen hours | R |
| I never saw Lenin I stood watch at his coffin in ' | S |
| in ' the tomb I visit is his books | T |
| they tried to tear me away from my party | E |
| it didn't work | U |
| nor was I crushed under the falling idols | V |
| in ' I sailed with a young friend into the teeth of death | W |
| in ' I spent four months flat on my back with a broken heart | J |
| waiting to die | X |
| I was jealous of the women I loved | Y |
| I didn't envy Charlie Chaplin one bit | Z |
| I deceived my women | I |
| I never talked my friends' backs | A2 |
| I drank but not every day | B2 |
| I earned my bread money honestly what happiness | C2 |
| out of embarrassment for others I lied | D2 |
| I lied so as not to hurt someone else | E2 |
| but I also lied for no reason at all | F2 |
| I've ridden in trains planes and cars | G2 |
| most people don't get the chance | H2 |
| I went to opera | I2 |
| most people haven't even heard of the opera | I2 |
| and since ' I haven't gone to the places most people visit | J2 |
| mosques churches temples synagogues sorcerers | R |
| but I've had my coffee grounds read | K2 |
| my writings are published in thirty or forty languages | L2 |
| in my Turkey in my Turkish they're banned | M2 |
| cancer hasn't caught up with me yet | N2 |
| and nothing says it will | O2 |
| I'll never be a prime minister or anything like that | P2 |
| and I wouldn't want such a life | Q2 |
| nor did I go to war | R2 |
| or burrow in bomb shelters in the bottom of the night | S2 |
| and I never had to take to the road under diving planes | T2 |
| but I fell in love at almost sixty | E |
| in short comrades | U2 |
| even if today in Berlin I'm croaking of grief | V2 |
| I can say I've lived like a human being | W2 |
| and who knows | X2 |
| how much longer I'll live | Y2 |
| what else will happen to me | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| This autobiography was written | I |
| in east Berlin on September | Z2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| Trans by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk | W2 |
Nazim Hikmet
(1)
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