On The Stairs
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
As I was going down those ill-famed stairs
you were coming through the door, and for a second
I saw your unfamiliar face and you saw mine.
Then I hid so you wouldn't see me again,
and you hurried past me, hiding your face,
and slipped inside the ill-famed house
where you couldn't have found pleasure any more than I did.
And yet the love you were looking for, I had to give you;
the love I was looking for -so your tired, knowing eyes
implied
you had to give me.
Our bodies sensed and sought each other:
our blood and skin understood.
But we both hid ourselves, flustered.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 181 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMN |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 569 |
Words | 111 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"On The Stairs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/7208/on-the-stairs>.
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