He Had Planned To Read

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



He had planned to read. Two or three books lie open,
books by historians, by poets.
But he read for barely ten minutes,
then gave it up, falling half-asleep on the sofa.
He's completely devoted to books
but he's twenty-three, and very good-looking;
and this afternoon Eros penetrated
his ideal flesh, his lips,
an erotic warmth penetrated
his lovely flesh
with no ridiculous shame about the form the pleasure took....

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

22 sec read
56

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCDEFGFHI
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 416
Words 72
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 11

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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