Originally a poem by the great Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet and translated into English by Jeannette Turner.
Here Gabriel Rosenstock translates Pete Seeger’s version of this great antiwar song (https://tinyurl.com/pnyykae).
Im’ sheasamh ar gach tairseach bím
Im’ sheasamh ar gach tairseach bím
Ní chloistear áfach mo choiscéim
An cnag ní chloiseann éinne fós
Mar ‘is marbh mé, is marbh mé.
Seacht mbliana ó shin a cailleadh mé
In Hiroshima fad-fadó
Seacht mbliana fós atáim anois
Ní fhásann marbhán níos mó.
Barrdhódh mo ghruaig le lasair bhuí
Is táimse anois gan radharc na súl
Dusta anois mo chnámha bán’
Á scuabadh ag an ngaoth aduaidh
Níl torthaí uaim, ná gráinne rís’
Níl milseán uaim ná fiú arán
Níl rud ar bith ag teastáil uaim
Im’ mharbhán, im’ mharbhán
Níl uaim anois – sé seo mo ghuí –
Ach síocháin i gcroí gach n-aon,
Is lig do pháistí uil’ an domhain
Bheith lánsásta leis an saol.
I Come And Stand At Every Door
I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent tread
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead.
I’m only seven although I died
In Hiroshima long ago
I’m seven now as I was then
When children die they do not grow.
My hair was scorched by swirling flame
My eyes grew dim, my eyes grew blind
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind.
I need no fruit, I need no rice
I need no sweet, nor even bread
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead, for I am dead.
All that I ask is that for peace
You fight today, you fight today
So that the children of this world
May live and grow and laugh and play.
