Outside the House

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



Walking yesterday in an outlying neighbourhood,
I went by the house
I used to go to when I was very young.
There Eros with his wonderful power
laid hold of my body.

And yesterday
when I walked down the old road,
shops, pavement, stones,
walls and balconies and windows-
all were suddenly made beautiful by the spell of love:
there was nothing ugly left there.

And as I stood staring at the door,
stood lingering outside the house,
my whole being radiated
the sensual passion stored up inside me.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 31, 2023

27 sec read
132

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXXA AAXXXX XBAX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 489
Words 91
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 6, 4

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…

All Constantine P. Cavafy poems | Constantine P. Cavafy Books

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