“I could prescribe any of a dozen antibiotics to cure
endocarditis, or even a thrombolytic agent
to stave off a heart attack; but what I
yearned for was the elixir of poetry,
which could heal the otherwise
untreatable condition of
my broken heart.”
This quote, by poet and physician Rafael Campo*,
beautifully captures the essence of the union
between the arts…and the art of medicine.
•
Therefore, today I will let him speak for me.
This is from his poem What the Body Told:
“To somewhere distant in my heart, they cry.
I look inside their other-person’s mouths
And see the wet interior of souls.
It’s warm and red in there–like love, with teeth.
I’ve studied medicine until I cried.”
*Rafael Campo is an internal medicine physician and poet currently on faculty at Harvard.
Rules of the Quote Challenge:
1-Post on three consecutive days.
2-You can pick one or three quotes per day.
3-Challenge three different bloggers per day.
Categories: Medicine
![When the Broken Becomes Beautiful [a poem]](https://i0.wp.com/healthinspiration.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pexels-photo-3041109.jpeg?fit=1200%2C764&ssl=1&resize=40%2C40){kind=small}
The perfect prescription !
😉 🙂
Fantastic quote… It’s funny that I just wrote a poem so similar to this!
😀 😉
Beautiful quote, Phoebe. I’ve heard of Campo. Now I must read some of his poetry! 🙂 Have a great weekend (hope you’re not experiencing the darn storm hitting the east coast). 🙂
And a lovely weekend to you as well! 🙂
Poetry is amazing……..Dr. Campo has it spot on……..it really can heal the heart or at least put an “emotional bandaid” on it until the healing begins.
Pam
Agreed! 🙂
Fantastic!
😀 🙂