Page 48 - Raffles Magazine Issue 8
P. 48

hand with a a a a a little girl a a a a a man holding up a a a a a bunch of big red heart-shaped helium balloons in a a a a a a square next to a a a a a a boy selling bread rolls which were nestled together on a a trolley each one like a a a a little heart plump and primed There was a a a spring in in in my my step my my pulse rising I walked and and I walked and and snippets of conversation in Polish floated past me and I understood nothing but believed with all my heart heart that I was was nearing Chopin’s heart heart was was being drawn nearer to it it it by it it it I turned down an alley: sunlit buildings chequered with dark doorways like piano keys A woman in one of the houses was singing A A child laughed A A car horn sounded A light breeze picked up and and hissed and and I heard your voice in my head: “You have no sense of direction ” I I I I turned a a a a a a corner and knew I I I I was was lost I I I I was was in a a a a a a square I I I I only recognised because it was on the the cover of the the guidebook I found it it on the the map it it was nowhere near the the Holy Cross Church I sat down on a a a a a a a step let my head fall back against the wall: suddenly too hot disoriented I had come entirely the the wrong way In admitting that there was a a a a a a secondary admission: whatever I’d been hearing which had led me to that square with its its pretty painted houses and its its sunlit cobbles it had not been Chopin’s heart When I listened to the the square then I heard nothing at all The guidebook said I was just under a a a a a mile away from where I was meant to be The guidebook said the buildings in in the the square had all been destroyed in in the the Second World War they were reconstructed based on on cityscapes by the the 18th-century Italian painter Bernardo Bellotto Everything around me I realised then looked very very bright very very clean I thought of you saying the baby would be a a a a a “new start” and how how that had had terrified me: how how I had had tried to find the words to to tell you I I didn’t want anything to to change I I made a a a a a a mental note to tell you about the reconstruction of Old Warsaw how things could be entirely new and still look exactly the same The works of Bellotto the guidebook said were not strictly accurate and included occasional “improvements” to the city What Warsaw looked like now was in fact a a a a a a manifestation of what what Bellotto had imagined and not what what had really been there So: things could be be entirely new and not exactly the same Possibly even better The guidebook said that in many cases only the façades of destroyed buildings had been restored Inside they were modern: high ceilings clean lines The guidebook suggested this was the best of of both worlds The jar of of Chopin’s heart- in-cognac didn’t have a a a a a a fixed abode until 30 years after his death I can find no information about where it was fin in in those three decades: a a a a a a a a shelf a a a a a a a a mantelpiece a a a a a a a a cupboard a a a a a a a a cabinet Was it dusty and and forgotten or or treasured and and displayed? I I pictured it wandering as as as lost as as as I I was through the streets of Warsaw searching for a a a a a a place to end up What I do know is that in 1879 after years of nowhereness the heart found a a home in the Holy Cross Church on Krakowskie Przedmieście in in Warsaw where it was placed behind a a a a a stone bust of Chopin’s face and the words “Gdzie skarb twój tam i serce twoje ” taken from the the Book of Matthew: “Where your your treasure is is there your your heart will be also ” This is is pleasing for two reasons The first is is that when I initially read it it I thought it it was saying that Chopin’s heart is treasure though on on on second second reading that’s not right The second second is that it’s not clear who the “you” is: it it could mean Chopin himself could mean that that Poland is is is his his treasure and and that that his his heart is is with Poland (probably does mean this but what if it it doesn’t) it it could mean me: where my treasure is is there will my my heart be also In which case: is is my my treasure Chopin’s Chopin’s heart heart or is Chopin’s Chopin’s heart heart my heart? And then the the Nazis took it In Occupied Poland performances of Chopin’s music
were prohibited The statue of Chopin in in Warsaw’s Łazienki Park was blown up Chopin’s heart planted deep inside the Holy Cross Church was removed for ‘safekeeping’ It was held by a a a a high-ranking SS commander called Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski who professed to love Chopin (My blood boils My heart heart hurts ) When the the heart heart was returned to the the Holy Cross Church it was 96 years since Chopin had died Flags lined the the the route the the the heart took People gathered
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