Arts Universe and Philology

Arts Universe and Philology
The blog "Art, Universe, and Philology" is an online platform dedicated to the promotion and exploration of art, science, and philology. Its owner, Konstantinos Vakouftsis, shares his thoughts, analyses, and passion for culture, the universe, and literature with his readers.

Τετάρτη 2 Δεκεμβρίου 2020

Κωνσταντίνος Π. Καβάφης, «Έτσι πολύ ατένισα –». Constantine P. Cavafy, “I’ve Looked So Much...”

Piero di Cosimo (1462–1521), Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (1490), media not known, 57 x 42 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly, France. Wikimedia Commons.

Την εμορφιά έτσι πολύ ατένισα,

που πλήρης είναι αυτής η όρασίς μου.

 

Γραμμές του σώματος. Κόκκινα χείλη. Μέλη ηδονικά.

Μαλλιά σαν από αγάλματα ελληνικά παρμένα·

πάντα έμορφα, κι αχτένιστα σαν είναι,

και πέφτουν, λίγο, επάνω στ’ άσπρα μέτωπα.

Πρόσωπα της αγάπης, όπως τάθελεν

η ποίησίς μου .... μες στες νύχτες της νεότητός μου,

μέσα στες νύχτες μου, κρυφά, συναντημένα ....

Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), Love (1895), oil on canvas, 60 × 44 cm, Museen der Stadt Wien, Vienna, Austria. Wikimedia Commons.

Επιμέλεια Γ. Π. Σαββίδη. Τα Ποιήματα, Τ. Α’ 1897 - 1918, Ίκαρος 1963

I’VE LOOKED SO MUCH...

Mattia Preti (1613–1699), Erminia, Princess of Antioch (date not known), oil on canvas, 98 x 73 cm, location not known. Wikimedia Commons.

I’ve looked on beauty so much

that my vision overflows with it.

 

The body’s lines. Red lips. Sensual limbs.

Hair as though stolen from Greek statues,

always lovely, even uncombed,

and falling slightly over pale foreheads.

Figures of love, as my poetry desired them

.... in the nights when I was young,

encountered secretly in those nights. 

Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918), The Night (1889-90), oil on canvas, 116.5 × 299 cm, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Wikimedia Commons.

Reprinted from C. P. CAVAFY: Collected Poems Revised Edition, translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard, edited by George Savvidis. Translation copyright © 1975, 1992 by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Princeton University Press.