Nâzim Hikmet Ran (15 January 1902 – 3 June 1963),[2][3] commonly known as Nâzim Hikmet (Turkish pronunciation: [na?'z?m hic'met]), was a Turkish poet, playwright, novelist and memoiristwho graduated from Naval School in 1918. He was acclaimed for the "lyrical flow of his statements".[4] Described as a "romantic communist"[5] and "romantic revolutionary",[4] he was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile. His poetry has been translated into more than fifty languages.

Persecuted for decades by the Republic of Turkey during the Cold War for his communist views, Ran died of a heart attack in Moscow on 3 June 1963 at 6.30 am while picking up a morning newspaper at the door of his summer house in Peredelkino, far away from his beloved homeland.[20] He is buried in Moscow's famous Novodevichy Cemetery, where his imposing tombstone is still today a place of pilgrimage for Turks and many others from around the world. His final wish, never carried out, was to be buried under a plane-tree (platanus) in any village cemetery in Anatolia.

Rapp & Whiting. Orig wraps. World War 2 poems translated from the original Turkish by Tanner BAYBARS.