Cavafy’s House طباعة

Six Lipsius Street:
Was your Alexandria the sea?
Or was it the turn
To where the alley narrows
And dispenses a flimsy
Light like the gloss on boiled snails.
May be your Alexandria was this door
That I cannot see.
May be it was the mumbling that trembled at the lips
But were never released…
May be the vase
Or the palace terrace where the god
Forsook Antony…

Six Lipsius Street:
Where the Greeks of night  come from?
Where did this wine come from?
Where is this stumbling song come from?
And this broken Boozooki?
And this air that is Alas,Alas,
This air airing its Ah ,Ah ?

Six Lipsius Street:
The balcony darkens …
The room withdraws into the wardrobe mirror,
The shirt flies to the sea
And the sea is absent..

If you are Antony , wait then…
May be from the shards of the mirror
A god will rise and call your namne.

Tunis 12.2.1990