Of Ionia

That we broke their statues
That we chased them from their temples
By no means did the gods die of this
Oh land of Ionia, you they still love.
As an August morning dawns over you
A living thrum of them quickens through your air
And sometimes, faint, a youthful form,
Indefinite, with rapid step,
Over your hillsides passes

C.P. Cavafy, translation mine #Cavafy #translation

As Much As You Can

And if you can’t shape your life the way you want,
at least try as much as you can
not to degrade it
by too much contact with the world,
by too much activity and talk.

Try not to degrade it by dragging it along,
taking it around and exposing it so often
to the daily silliness
of social events and parties,
until it comes to seem a boring hanger-on.

— #cavafy

https://m.soundcloud.com/yahia-lababidi/as-much-as-you-can-by?fbclid=IwAR3YREtlMGxqFW485JP1QTPPkuVqtbhVXVwezTgE38vvpv_vqhheD1v3MLM&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

#greece #poetry #soundcloud #queer #reading #ThrowbackThursday #thursday #life

“That blood. It was all part of my love.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “The Bandaged Shoulder”, translated by Don Paterson.

#cavafy #poetry

“All that is foreign to me now. I am not that Cleon here.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “The Tomb of Ignatius”, translated by Avi Sharon.

#poetry #cavafy

“You said: ‘I’ll go to another land, I’ll go to another sea.
Another city will be found, a better one than this.’”

– Constantine P. Cavafy: Manuscript of “The City” (“H Polis”), Alexandria, 1911.

#poetry #cavafy

“In the month of Athyr / Lefkios was laid to rest.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “In the Month of Athyr”, translated by Alex de Voogt.

#cavafy #poetry

“Do not attach such importance to yourself.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “Guilt”, translated by John C. Davis.

#poetry #cavafy

“They suspected something that they dared not say.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “From the Unpublished History”, translated by @DAMendelsohnNYC@twitter.com

#poetry #cavafy

“Those delectations that were half real,
half wrought by my own mind.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “I Went”, translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.

#poetry #cavafy

“… At four o’clock one afternoon we parted
for just a week ... But alas,
That week lasted forever.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “The Afternoon Sun”, translated by André Aciman.

#poetry #cavafy

“Or perhaps Destiny / appeared like an artist.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “Before They Are Changed by Time”, translated by Evangelos Sachperoglou.

#poetry #cavafy

A poem for #Epiphany by C.P. Cavafy.

“And in the shabby chamber where she was imprisoned
the Lady Cantacuzene gave up the ghost.”

– “On Epiphany”, translated by @DAMendelsohnNYC@twitter.com

#poetry #cavafy

Portrait of Cavafy by Nikos Engonopoulos (1907-1985), tempera on wood, 1948. The lines on the scroll are from the poem “Sophist Leaving Syria”:

“Eminent sophist, now that you are leaving Syria
with plans to write a book about Antioch.”

#cavafy #poetry

“Do not trivialize your life…”

– C.P. Cavafy, “As Much As You Can”, translated by Avi Sharon.

#poetry #cavafy #NewYearResolution

“Despairing nights of this January,
when the vision vanishes and leaves me bereft.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “January 1904”, translated by Rae Dalven, h/t @EFourti@twitter.com

#poetry #cavafy

A poem for #NewYearsEve

“How quickly the snuffed-out candles multiply.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “Candles”, translated by @DAMendelsohnNYC@twitter.com

#poetry #cavafy

“I didn’t hold myself back. I gave in completely and went,
went to those delectations that were half real,
half wrought by my own mind.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “I Went”, handwritten amended manuscript. Cavafy Archive.

#poetry #cavafy

“Antioch is proud of its splendid buildings,
its beautiful streets, the lovely countryside around it,
its teeming population;
proud too of its glorious kings, its artists
and sages, its very rich
yet prudent merchants.”

–C.P. Cavafy, “Greek From Ancient Times”.

#poetry #cavafy

“Something they were saying close to me
drew my attention to the entrance of the café.”

– C.P. Cavafy, “In the Entrance of the Café”, translated by @DAMendelsohnNYC@twitter.com

#poetry #cavafy

“Something they were saying close to me
drew my attention to the entrance of the café.”

C.P. Cavafy, “In the Entrance of the Café, translated by @DAMendelsohnNYC@twitter.com

#poetry #cavafy