The Afternoon Sun by C. P. Cavafy
The Afternoon Sun
C. P. CavafyThis room, how well I know it.
Now they’re renting it, and the one next to it,
as offices. The whole house has become
an office building for agents, businessmen, companies.This room, how familiar it is.
The couch was here, near the door,
a Turkish carpet in front of it.
Close by, the shelf with two yellow vases.
On the right—no, opposite—a wardrobe with a mirror.
In the middle the table where he wrote,
and the three big wicker chairs.
Beside the window the bed
where we made love so many times.They must still be around somewhere, those old things.
Beside the window the bed;
the afternoon sun used to touch half of it.…One afternoon at four o’clock we separated
for a week only…And then—
that week became forever.
MARGINALIA
This.
ABOUT C. P. CAVAFY
C. P. Cavafy is widely considered the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where his Greek parents had settled in the mid-1850s. Cavafy’s father was an importer-exporter whose business responsibilities frequently led him to the port city of Liverpool, England. Cavafy’s father died in 1870, and the business he left in Alexandria proved insufficiently profitable for Cavafy’s mother and eight siblings. The family consequently moved… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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aubrey
aww this really touches my heart..