Original | English translation by Howard Fast of the poem by Nazim Hikmet
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I COME AND STAND AT EVERY DOOR | THE LITTLE DEAD GIRL |
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I come and stand at every door | A little girl is at your door, |
But no one hears my silent tread | At every door, at every door, |
I knock and yet remain unseen | A little girl you cannot see |
For I am dead, for I am dead. | Is at your door, is at your door |
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I'm only seven although I died | And for me, there will never be |
In Hiroshima long ago | The love and laughter you have known. |
I'm seven now as I was then | At Hiroshima, do you see, |
When children die they do not grow. | My flesh was seared from every bone. |
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My hair was scorched by swirling flame | My hair was first to feel the flame, |
My eyes grew dim, my eyes grew blind | Hot were my eyes and hot my hands, |
Death came and turned my bones to dust | Only a little ash remained, |
And that was scattered by the wind. | Where I had played upon the sands. |
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I need no fruit, I need no rice | Stranger, what can you do for me, |
I need no sweet, nor even bread | A little ash, a little girl? |
I ask for nothing for myself | A human child like paper burned, |
For I am dead, for I am dead. | An ash for the cooling wind to swirl. |
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All that I ask is that for peace | A little dead child, burned by strife, |
You fight today, you fight today | Oh, stranger please do this for me, |
So that the children of this world | Your name on the scroll, peace and life, |
May live and grow and laugh and play. | And peace and life for all like me. |
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