Selected Poems » (New)

Constantine Cavafy (1863—1933) was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to Greek parents. He worked as a journalist and civil servant and only late in life began to find a receptive readership for his poems. A volume of his collected poetry was not published until after his death. Avi Sharon has taught classics and the humanities in New York, Boston, and Athens and has published translations in such journals as Partisan Review, Arion, and Dialogos.

The Greek poet C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) is one of the most singular and poignant voices of twentieth-century European poetry, conjuring a rich interior world through lyrical evocations of remembered passions, imagined monologues and dramatic retellings of his native Alexandria's ancient past.

W. H. Auden

Ever since I was first introduced to his poetry . . . Cavafy has remained an influence on my writing.

Pt. I Poems 1897-1904

Voices 3

Desires 4

Candles 5

An Old Man 8

Prayer 7

Old Men's Souls 8

The First Step 9

Interruption 10

Thermopylae 11

Che Fece ... II Gran Rifiuto 12

The Windows 13

Walls 14

Waiting for the Barbarians 15

Lies 17

The Funeral of Sarpedon 19

The Horses of Achilles 21

Pt. II Poems 1905-1915

The City 25

The Satrapy 26

The Wise Perceive Imminent Events 27

The Ides of March 28

Done 29

The God Abandoning Antony 30

Thodotus 31

Monotony 32

Ithaca 33

As Much As You Can 35

Trojans 36

King Demetrius 37

The Glory of the Ptolemies 38

The Procession of Dionysus 39

The Battle of Magnesia 40

The Displeasure of the Seleuad 41

Orophemes 42

Alexandrian Kings 44

Philhellene 46

The Footsteps 47

Heredes Atticus 48

Tyanian Sculptor 49

The Tomb of the Grammarian Lysias 50

The Tomb of Eurion 51

That's the Man! 52

Dangerous Things 53

Manuel Comnenus 54

In Church 55

Very Seldom 56

Of the Shop 57

Painted Things 58

Morning Sea 59

Ionic 60

The Cafe Entrance 61

One Night 62

Return 63

Far Away 64

He Vows 65

I Left 66

Chandelier 67

Pt. III Poems 1916-1918

Since Nine O'Clock 71

Insight 72

Before the Statue of Endymion 73

Envoys from Alexandria 74

Aristobulus 75

Caesarian 77

Nero's Deadline 78

In the Seaport 79

One of Their Gods 80

The Tomb of Lanes 81

The Tomb of Iases 82

In a Town of Osroene 83

The Tomb of Ignatius 84

In the Month of Athyr 85

For Ammones, Who Died at Twenty-nine, in the Year 610 86

Aemilianus Monai, Alexandrian, AD 628-655 87

When They Come Alive 88

Pleasure 89

I Have Gazed So Much 90

In the Street 91

The Tobacconist's Window92

The Passage 93

In the Evening 94

Grey 95

Beside the House 96

The Next Table 97

Remember, Body 98

Days of 1901 99

Pt. IV Poems 1919-1933

The Afternoon Sun 103

To Live 104

Of the Jews, AD 50 105

Imenos 106

On the Ship 107

Of Demetrius Soter (162-150 BC) 108

If Indeed Dead 110

Young Men of Sidon (AD 400) 111

That They May Come 112

Darius 113

Anna Comnena 115

Byzantine Aristocrat, in Exile, Composing Verses 116

Their Beginning 117

The Favourite of Alexander Balas 118

The Melancholy of jason Cleander, Poet in Commagene, AD 595 119

Demaratus 120

I Have Brought to Art 122

From the School of the Renowned Philosopher 123

Craftsman of Wine Bowls 124

For Those Who Fought in the Achaean League 125

To Antiochus Epipbanes 126

In an Old Book 127

In Despair 128

Julian, Seeing the Contempt 129

Epitaph of Antiochus, King of Commagene 130

Theatre of Sidon (AD 400) 131

Julian in Nicomedia 132

Before Time Could Change Them 133

He Came to Read 134

The Year 31 BC in Alexandria 135

John Cantacuzenus Has the Upper Hand 136

Temethus, Antiochian, AD 400 137

Of Coloured Glass 138

In the Twenty-fifth Year of His Life 139

On Italy's Coast 140

The Dreary Village 141

Apollonius of Tyana in Rhodes 142

The Illness of Cleitus 143

In a Town of Asia Minor 144

Priest at the Serapeion 145

In the Bars 146

A Great Procession of Clergy and Laymen 147

Scholar Departing Syria 148

Julian and the Antiochians 149

Anna Dalassena 150

Days of 1896 151

Two Young Men, Twenty-three to Twenty-four Years Old 152

Greek Since Antiquity 154

Days of 1901 155

You Did Not Understand 156

A Young Writer - in His Twenty-fourth Year 157

In Sparta 158

Picture of a Young Man of Twenty-three, Painted by his Friend of the Same Age, an Amateur 159

In a Large Greek Colony, 200 BC 160

A Prince from Western Libya 162

Cimon, Son of Learchos, Twenty-two Years of Age, Student of Greek Literature (in Cyrene) 163

On the March to Sinope 164

Days of 1909, 1910 and 1911 165

Myres: Alexandria, AD 340 166

Alexander Jannaeus and Alexandra 169

Lovely Flowers, White Ones, That Matched So Well 170

Come, O King of the Lacedaemonians 171

In the Same Space 172

The Mirror in the Entrance Hall 173

He Asked About the Quality 174

They Should Have Taken the Time 175

Following the Recipes of Ancient Greco-Syrian Magicians 177

In the Year 200 BC 178

Days of 1908 180

In the Environs of Antioch 182

Nares 185

Index of Titles 211

Index of First Lines 216