This C.P. Cavafy classic was a favorite of mine a few years ago. As those of us who once — briefly — took simple pleasure in being the object of others’ desire know, ageing is not without its anxieties. There’s a deeply narcissistic comfort here. It’s not a Christian poem by any means, but it reads familiar.
Body, Remember
Body, remember not only how much you were loved
not only the beds you lay on.
but also those desires glowing openly
in eyes that looked at you,
trembling for you in voices-
only some chance obstacle frustrated them.
Now that it’s all finally in the past,
it seems almost as if you gave yourself
to those desires too-how they glowed,
remember, in eyes that looked at you,
remember, body, how they trembled for you in those voices.
Recent Comments