Angina Pectoris

Portrait of Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet 1901–1963

If half my heart is here, doctor, the other half is in China with the army flowing toward the Yellow River. And, every morning, doctor, every morning at sunrise my heart is shot in Greece. And every night,c doctor, when the prisoners are asleep and the infirmary is deserted, my heart stops at a run-down old house in Istanbul. And then after ten years all i have to offer my poor people is this apple in my hand, doctor, one read apple: my heart. And that, doctor, that is the reason for this angina pectoris-- not nicotine, prison, or arteriosclerosis. I look at the night through the bars, and despite the weight on my chest my heart still beats with the most distant stars.

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