Photograph of the room in the Greek Hospital of Alexandria where Cavafy died on 29 April 1933. Some of his personal items can be seen, such as his hat, suitcase and a notepad with pencil. Cavafy Archive.

And to close the day-long celebration of #Cavafy #poetry , another great favorite: an unforgettable poem in which a recurrent motif—hauntings & apparitions from the Hellenic past—makes for a gorgeous and unsettling meditation:

This extraordinary short poem by #Cavafy : five lines of remarkable potency:

This remarkable #Cavafy poem, written 3 years before the poet’s death #OTD in 1933, uses a mirror to (!) reflect on his recurring themes: beauty, time, and memory:

There’s no new land, my friend, no
New sea; for the city will follow you,
In the same streets you’ll wander endlessly,
The same mental suburbs slip from youth to age,
In the same house go white at last —

The city is a cage.

— Cavafy

tr. Lawrence Durrell

#botd Alexandria #dotd

Impossible to choose a favourite Cavafy poem (happy birthday, etc etc), but this was the first one I read and it's never far from my mind: (trans Daniel Mendelsohn)

'To certain people there comes a day when they must say the great Yes or the great No.'
~ Constantine P. Cavafy, born on this date in 1863 #BOTD

♥️ Remembering with pleasure this conversation with Yalcin Aciman just about one year ago, part of “Archive of Desire,” A Celebration of C. P. Cavafy McNally Jackson
.ONASSIS STEGI

Another favorite #Cavafy poem on this, his birthday—and, in its remarkable terseness, one of the hardest to translate: “Voices”:

#poetry #translation #literature

In honor of the great Greek poet Constantine #Cavafy , who was born #otd 29 April 1863 (and who died on the same date, 29 April, in 1933), I’ll be posting some favorite poems through the day, starting with my absolute favorite, “Since Nine—”

#poetry #literature #translation

I often had him in mind when I walked the streets. He was so very present.

It was just simply that his chair was empty, so to speak.

— Lawrence Durrell, honoring Cavafy

b. 29 April 1863 (Alexandria)
d. 29 April 1933 (Alexandria)

Cavafy's Flat Rue Lepsius, Alexandria

“Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey;
without her you wouldn’t have set upon the road.”

– C.P. Cavafy was born #OTD April 29, 1863. He died on his 70th birthday, April 29, 1933.

“Ithaca”, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn

#poetry #cavafy

But it was for the eternal disaster of death
that those two gallant horses shed their tears.

Now tired men throw back the shutters of their balconies and step blinking into the pale hot light — etiolated flowers of afternoons spent in anguish, tossing upon ugly beds, bandaged by dreams.

— Lawrence Durrell

The Alexandria Quartet (1957-1960)
Villa Ambron (destroyed 2017)

C.P. Cavafy with translation by Evangelis Sachperoglou

#GreekPoetry

Statue of Apis made of basalt 😍.
Provenience: Serapeum Temple #Alexandria
130 AD
The Graeco-Roman Museum
Photo by me 📸

A Greek woman wearing a Byzantine imperial costume. A photo by Walter Hege. 1928-1935

اسكندرية وهى رايقـــــة 🌊❤️

Then I hid so you wouldn’t see me again,
and you hurried past me, hiding your face.

Wall lamp in the shape of a bust of Dionysus Tauros Egypt, Alexandria, 2nd – 1st century BC Bronze and silver, hollow cast iron, 9.1 x 6.4 x 3.1 cm © Fondation Gandur pour l’Art