Like a hemp shirt

Washed on a windy sailing deck

with sea water 

and a metal brush

like a hemp shirt

I carry sadness on my shoulder.

And in this Southern village the tireless sun

matures and reddens 

upon girls and apricots.


Nazim Hikmet (Greece, 1902 – Russia, 1963), translated by Slow Words

This poem has been suggested by Aldo Bruzzo

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