"I never had you, nor I suppose will I ever have you. A few words, an approach, as in the bar the other day—nothing more. It’s sad, I admit. But we who serve Art, sometimes with the mind’s intensity, can create—but of course only for a short time— pleasure that seems almost physical. That’s how in the bar the other day— mercifully helped by alcohol— I had half an hour that was totally erotic. And I think you understood this and stayed slightly longer on purpose. That was very necessary. Because with all the imagination, with all the magic alcohol, I needed to see your lips as well, needed your body near me."
C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992
Photography by Filep Motwary ©
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