Constantine Cavafy – Poems

Sculptor of Tyana
As you may have heard, I am not a beginner.
Some good quantity of stone goes through my hands.
And in my home country, Tyana, they know me
well; and here the senators have ordered
a number of statues from me.
Let me show you
some right now. Have a good look at this Rhea;
venerable, full of forbearance, really ancient.
Look closely at Pompey. Marius,
Aemilius Paulus, the African Scipio.
True resemblances, as true as I could make them.
Patroklos (I’ll have to touch him up a bit).
Close to those pieces
of yellowish marble over there, is Caesarion.
And for a while now I have been busy
creating a Poseidon. I carefully study
his horses in particular, how to shape them.
They have to be so light that their bodies,
their legs, show that they don’t touch
the earth, but run over water.
But here is my most beloved creation,
that I worked with such feeling and great care
on a warm summer day,
when my mind ascended to the ideals,
I had a dream of him, this young Hermes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1723961833

Hours of the Stars

Sirius
We saw her unfold the spin wheel of time
opposite the wind
and the pashas we saw
the beak of day touching her sun tied
on the iron stake of a rock and the eagle
coupled her sides. There she armed herself
while each of her gods stood forty yards high and
started talking to children and geraniums
at times even men got teary. Then you would think
they tossed barley into the fire or dice
on the chess of virgin Mary as
time takes away time and brings back
her sea-kerchiefs and the vigils of the north wind.
Time unfurls the flutes of colors and
the blouses of girls that into their eyes
convoys of birds and flowers travel.
At the lower levels the olive tree leaves
embitter us and at the higher level
pines breath signals a shiver
of guilt sprouting on her skin and platoons
of cypresses climb up the hill
as the hours start to blaze she offers
atonement libations to the fair weather; she assumes
the ephebe July and establishes the new crops like Aeneias
white horses thresh Logos and the golden plains
from end to end
fever spreads into her veins for hours and hours
like weather does to grapevines
that the performance of a group of disorder
appears straight by the edge of the precipice.
The hours stagger on their red heels and on their faces
intensifies the blushing aroused by their hearing
focused on the far away when silence
announces inexplicable oracles and
truth demands ransom as
years go by she becomes an orphan and
hangs over the waters when she seeks to
blindly attach herself onto something as
the camel driver gets fooled by the mirage
of the desert and assumes seeing far away
the sword of Alexander the Great pushed
into the scabbard of the Dead Sea.
We saw her floating over waters and ruins
like a big star when the mermaid
rejoiced in tearing up the forgetfulness
of the sea floor and during the night
Glaucus fought against the hours striking
them one by one over the castle of Astropalia
and the bell of Virgin Mary.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763408

Wheat Ears

Apollo
And I grew under Apollo’s sun
minutes of expressiveness
alone in brightness
stunning reign of sun
and before I opened my eyes
I was accompanied
by the law of failure
born blind, tearless and
accused of heresy
a revolution in its making
even before I could utter
a groan or a begging cry
I gathered all my strength
to pick a date with death
hours before I appeared
in my mother’s arms
newborn festivity
error permitted, once and forever
two legs just to walk
a heart as if
to feel emotion
and other human traces
of grandeur

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKHW4B4S