#constantine cavafy

[cowperviolet]

When they saw Patroklos dead

—so brave and strong, so young—

the horses of Achilles began to weep;

their immortal nature was upset deeply

by this work of death they had to look at.

They reared their heads, tossed their long manes,

beat the ground with their hooves, and mourned

Patroklos, seeing him lifeless, destroyed,

now mere flesh only, his spirit gone,

defenseless, without breath,

turned back from life to the great Nothingness.

Zeus saw the tears of those immortal horses and felt sorry.

“At the wedding of Peleus,” he said,

“I should not have acted so thoughtlessly.

Better if we hadn’t given you as a gift,

my unhappy horses. What business did you have down there,

among pathetic human beings, the toys of fate.

You are free of death, you will not get old,

yet ephemeral disasters torment you.

Men have caught you up in their misery.”

But it was for the eternal disaster of death

that those two gallant horses shed their tears. 

- Horses of Achilles, by Constantine Cavafy

[lightthereis]

“And if you can’t shape your life the way you want, at least try as much as you cannot degrade it...” ― Constantine P. Cavafy/Κωνσταντίνος Π. Καβάφης (Greek Poet)

[yorgunherakles]

bir gemi yok, bir yol yok sana

kavafis

[newsmutproject]

Body, remember not only how much you were loved, not only the beds on which you lay, but also those desires which for you plainly glowed in the eyes, and trembled in the voice -- and some chance obstacle made them futile. Now that all belongs to the past, it is almost as if you had yielded to those desires too -- remember, how they glowed, in the eyes looking at you; how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body.

-Constantine P. Cavafy

[painterinkrakow]

Wojciech Ćwiertniewicz, Cavafy, In an Old Book, 1982, ink

[rahmamustafa99]

Cavafy - Poet of The City (2011)

[quotesengage]

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.

C. P. Cavafy

[mundaneandmagicalcreature]

The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien | Ithaka, C.P. Cavafy (Tr: E. Keeley and P. Sherrard)

[manwalksintobar]

Returning from Greece

Well, we’re nearly there, Hermippos. Day after tomorrow, it seems—that’s what the captain said. At least we’re sailing our seas, the waters of Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt, the beloved waters of our home countries. Why so silent? Ask your heart: didn’t you too feel happier the farther we got from Greece? What’s the point of fooling ourselves? That would hardly be properly Greek. It’s time we admitted the truth: we are Greeks also—what else are we?— but with Asiatic affections and feelings, affections and feelings sometimes alien to Hellenism. It isn’t right, Hermippos, for us philosophers to be like some of our petty kings (remember how we laughed at them when they used to come to our lectures?) who through their showy Hellenified exteriors, Macedonian exteriors (naturally), let a bit of Arabia peep out now and then, a bit of Media they can’t keep back. And to what laughable lengths the fools went trying to cover it up! No, that’s not at all right for us. For Greeks like us that kind of pettiness won’t do. We must not be ashamed of the Syrian and Egyptian blood in our veins; we should really honor it, take pride in it.

(Translated from the Greek by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)

[drizzlingrain]

by Constantine Cavafy, via huckgutman.com

[felii-professionaldreamer]

"And yet, the love you longed for, I had it to offer you."

-C. P. Cavafy, "On the Stairs"

[philgennuso]

Poet's Corner: Candles by Constantine Cavafy #Poetry #GraphicArts #Saturday

Artwork by Phil Gennuso Arts The days of the future stand in front of usLike a line of candles all alight—Golden and warm and lively little candles. The days that are past are left behind,A mournful row of candles that are out;The nearer ones are still smoking,Candles cold, and melted, candles bent., I don’t want to see them; their shapes hurt me,It hurts me to remember the light of them at…

[seamusicpoetry]

David Gompper: "Shades of Love," 3 Songs on Poetry of Constantin Cavafy

1) "To Call Up the Shades" 2) (@ 02:19): "I Went /One Night" 3) (@ 05:16) "Return/Far Off"

[hanssloane]

C P Cavafy: 'The rest I'll speak of to the ones below in Hades'

[mournfulroses]

Constantine P. Cavafy, from The Collected Poems of C. P. Cavafy; "Come Back,"