The Souls Of Old Men

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



Inside their worn, tattered bodies
sit the souls of old men.
How unhappy the poor things are
and how bored by the pathetic life they live.
How they tremble for fear of losing that life, and how much
they love it, those befuddled and contradictory souls,
sitting -half comic and half tragic-
inside their old, threadbare skins.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

17 sec read
88

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 327
Words 59
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 8

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…

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