PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

[after Constantine Cavafy's poems, "Craftsman Of Wine Bowls,"

and, "In An Old Book," both in the Keeley and Sherrard translation]

The painting, without signature and its exact

provenance unknown, is rarely seen.  It depicts

an indoor, in-floor pool that is fairly shallow,

just ankle deep.  Seated on one of its edges is a

long-haired adolescent, almost naked (old prudes

are often shocked by this, if they even have the

opportunity to view it).  His long hair, cascading

well below his shoulders, is chestnut in color.

He has not removed all of his clothes:  he

has kept on, instead, a pair of metallic blue

thigh-high socks, and has plunged his feet into the

water.  His eyes gaze directly at the viewer,

with a shy smile---as if wanting company (perhaps

similarly clad), but not entirely sure how to

express the invitation.  His body is lithe and

slender; his pubic hair ginger, his pleasurer

partially engorged.  (This is another reason that

few are permitted access; the candor of the

picture is offensive to some.)  You can imagine the

young man, depicted, has moved among the

initiated, and has found, among them, the sensual

pleasures that society condemns under the term,

Homosexual.  He looks like someone I once loved,

during my own adolescence, but I doubt it.  I

loved him a long time ago, more years than I

care to admit, but society being what it was

(then and now, despite the best of efforts), I

was too cowardly to tell him; and the opportunity

passed, and circumstances separated us.  I think of 

him often, and I envy the man he eventually loved.

Starward