Last night on BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please they read a
translation of Nazim Hikmet’s poem ‘Things I Didn’t Know I Loved’. He wrote it
while travelling on the Prague-Berlin train. It was the year before he died and
knowing that makes it all the more poignant.
I won’t even try to paraphrase it
here and I certainly wouldn’t presume to create a version of my own. You may know the poem but, if you'd like to read it again, I’ve
put a link here to the translation, or you may prefer to listen to last week’s
Poetry Please programme here. There are seven days left to listen.
Is it just me or is this one of the most moving poem you’ve
ever heard?
I rarely have the radion on evenings so missed this. pleased you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
I prefer evening radio to the TV these days. So much more relaxing.
DeleteYes, a very moving poem. Let's try to appreciate these things before it's too late :)
ReplyDeleteDuncan In Kuantan
I do try but it's hard to remember sometimes,
DeleteLovely. It speaks to all things the *small* things in our lives that we may overlook.
ReplyDeletePrecisely. We can all appreciate the bigger things but often forget the everyday stuff.
DeleteA very moving poem and I am glad for him that he discovered how much he liked those things.
ReplyDeleteYes, and so sad that he'd had such a hard life.
DeleteIt's wonderful how poems can touch us - and how some seem to land on us at just the right moment of our lives. I recall, years ago, coming across a very old poem by Walter Raleigh (yes, that Walter Raleigh) in which he described 'silence held in a scallop shell' - I had rather a lot of Life at the time, but found a scallop shell to hold at those moments when it all got a bit frantic.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea of silence in a scallop shell. Yes, poetry can be very special.
DeleteThanks for the link. I liked the pictures it painted and the words were almost in the rhythm of a train. I could feel it churn on the tracks and even sway a bit at times. Quite poignant indeed, knowing he passed away not long after. wow.
ReplyDeleteLovely,very moving.
ReplyDeleteHi Ros .. a very interesting life - fascinating read in Wiki - then I read the poem via Google! such is life ... but we learn so much from being able to access those sites, as well as having the opportunity to be directed there by intellectual friends who blog!
ReplyDeleteI guess I'd have the radio on more if I wasn't on my own .. but I don't need to concentrate so much on the tv ... and I can then multi-task much more! And I'm not tempted to jot things down ...
Cheers Hilary
It's a beautiful poem...but was slightly disappointed by the actual reading of it somehow...I'd never heard of it before and I'm so pleased to have made its acquaintance. I love that programme...
ReplyDelete