Traitor to one's country

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"Nazim Hikmet remains a traitor,
says we are halfway to being

a colony of America.
Nazim Hikmet betrays us."
So write newspapers from Ankara,

three columns of black ink
in a newspaper from Ankara, beside the face
of Admiral Williamson, his 66 square inches
of laughter, the Admiral of America
who gave us liras to spend,
a hundred and twenty million liras.
"We are half a colony, said Hikmet.
Nazim Hikmet betrays us."

Yes, so it is: if you show grace

and love for your country,

then I am happy to betray it.
If your country is your farms,
your pocketbooks, your safes,
if your country is starving
like a dog on the street, shivering
like a dog in the cold, convulsing
with fever in the summer, in the heat,
if Country is drinking
our red blood in your factory,
if Homeland is the offal of your landlords,
their fingernails, if it is the service
of religion, the stick of the policeman,
if Country is your paycheck, your debt,
if your Land is an American base, an American bomb,
if Homeland is clinging to the fetid dark,
   I betray it.
Type out three columns, in dark black ink:
Nazim Hikmet is still a traitor to our country.

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Vatan Haini by Nazım Hikmet

Translated September 6, 2020

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