He Came to Read
He came to read.
Two or three booksare open; historians and poets.
But he only read for ten minutes,and gave them up.
He is dozingon the sofa.
He is fully devoted to books but he is twenty-three years old, and he's very handsome;and this afternoon love passedthrough his ideal flesh, his lips.
Through his flesh which is full of beautythe heat of love passed;without any silly shame for the form of the enjoyment… ..
Original Greek:
Ηλθε για να διαβάσει
Ηλθε για να διαβάσει.
Είν' ανοιχτάδυο, τρία βιβλία· ιστορικοί και ποιηταί.
Μα μόλις διάβασε δέκα λεπτά,και τα παράτησε.
Στον καναπέμισοκοιμάται.
Ανήκει πλήρως στα βιβλία --αλλ' είναι είκοσι τριώ ετών, κ' είν' έμορφος πολύ·και σήμερα το απόγευμα πέρασ' ο έρωςστην ιδεώδη σάρκα του, στα χείλη.
Στη σάρκα του που είναι όλο καλλονήη θέρμη πέρασεν η ερωτική·χωρίς αστείαν αιδώ για την μορφή της απολαύσεως.....
Constantine P Cavafy
Other author posts
Sensual Pleasures
My life's joy and incense: recollection of those hours when I found and captured pleasure as I wanted it My life's joy and incense: that I refused all indulgence in routine love affairs
Grey
Looking at an opal, a half-grey opal, I remembered two beautiful grey eyesI had seen it must have been twenty years before
The City
You said, I will go to another land, I will go to another sea Another city will be found, a better one than this Every effort of mine is a condemnation of fate;and my heart is — like a corpse — buried
Half an Hour
I never had you, nor will I ever have youI suppose A few words, an approachas in the bar yesterday, and nothing more It is, undeniably, a pity But we who serve Artsometimes with intensity of mind, and of course onlyfor a short while...
