Craftsmen of Wine Bowls

Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)



On this wine bowl—pure silver,
made for the house of Herakleidis,
where good taste is the rule—
notice these graceful flowers, the streams, the thyme.
In the center I put this beautiful young man,
naked, erotic, one leg still dangling
in the water. O memory, I begged
for you to help me most in making
the young face I loved appear the way it was.
This proved very difficult because
some fifteen years have gone by since the day
he died as a soldier in the defeat at Magnesia.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 13, 2023

27 sec read
90

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGFBBHI
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 477
Words 91
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12

Constantine P. Cavafy

Constantine P. Cavafy was a Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant. He published 154 poems; dozens more remained incomplete or in sketch form. His most important poetry was written after his fortieth birthday. more…

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