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THE STRANGEST CREATURE ON EARTH
You're like a scorpion, my brother,
you're in a cowardly darkness like a scorpion.
You're like a sparrow, my brother,
you're in a sparrow's flutter.
You're like a mussel, my brother,
closed as a mussel, tranquil.
And you're dreadful
as the mouth of an extinct volcano, my brother.
Not one,
not five,
you're in millions, unfortunately.
You're like a sheep, my brother,
when the cloaked drover raises his stick
you join the herd at once
and almost proudly run to the slaughter house.
You're the strangest creature on earth, that is,
even stranger than the fish in the sea
which doesn't know the sea.
And in this world, this tyranny
is thanks to you.
And if we're starved, tired, covered with blood
and if we're still being crushed like grapes for our wine
the fault is yours,
- though I can't bring myself to say it -
but a lot of it, my dear brother, is yours.
1947
tr. by Fuat Engin