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ANGINA PECTORIS
If a half of my heart is here
the other half is in China, doctor.
In the army flowing towards
the Yellow river.
Then, every dawn, doctor,
every dawn, my heart,
is shot in Greece.
Then, every night when the prisoners fall asleep
and the infirmary is deserted
my heart is in an old large house at Chamlicha,
every night
doctor.
Then, after these ten years,
to offer my poor people
I have only one apple in my hand, doctor,
a red apple :
my heart...
Not arteriosclerosis, not nicotine, not prison,
that’s the reason, my doctor, that’s the reason
of my angina pectoris....
I am looking at the night through the bars
and in spite of the pressure on my chest
my heart beats with the most distant star...
April 1948
tr. by Fuat Engin