Body Remember
Body, remember not only how
much you were loved
not only the beds you lay on.
but also those desires
glowing openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembling for you in
voices-
only some chance obstacle
frustrated them.
Now that it's all finally
in the past,
it seems almost as if you
gave yourself
to those desires too-how
they glowed,
remember, in eyes that
looked at you,
remember, body, how they
trembled for you in those
voices.
According to the formulas of ancient Greco-Syrian magi
"What distillate can be
discovered from herbs of a
witching brew,"
said an aesthete,
"what distillate prepared
according to the formulas
of ancient Greco-Syrian magi
which for a day (if no
longer its potency can
last), or even for a short
time,
can bring my twenty three
years to me again; can
bring my friend of twenty
two to me again -- his
beauty, his love.
"What distillate prepared
according to the formulas
of ancient Greco-Syrian magi
which, in bringing back
these things, can also
bring back our little
room."
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.
Go to Cavafy's page.
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