Bowls of Light

The great Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet wrote the line "I'm pouring bowls of light over my head" in a poem entitled "The Last Bus."   He wrote it in celebration of life even as he was facing death.   Hikmet was a Turkish revolutionary who spent much of his life in prison or exile, and many of his poems are bittersweet, asserting hope and love in the face of imprisonment and living in foreign lands.   "The Cucumber" is about a fresh, green cucumber resting on a table in frigid mid-winter in Moscow--a simple symbol of summertime and optimism.  I turn to Hikmet's poems when I feel disheartened, to draw on his courage and indefatigable hope--not the least his belief in humankind.   There are some excellent collections of his poems in libraries, if not in print.   You won't regret reading them.