He was far too tasteful and far too clever,
a young man of very good society, too,
to make a fool of himself by acting as if he thought
that his abandonment was some great tragedy.
After all when his friend had said to him, “We two
will have love forever”– both the one who said it,
and the one who heard it, knew it for a cliché.
One night after the picture-show, and the ten
minutes they stayed at the bar, a longing
kindled in their eyes and in their blood
and they went off together, and someone said “forever.”

Anyway, their “forever” lasted three years.
Far too often it lasts for less.

He was far too elegant, and far too clever,
to take the matter tragically;
and far too beautiful — both face and body —
for his carnal vanity to be touched at all.

Image: Sitters, photographer, unknown, via Ipernity/Scumbeast
Text: Abandonment, C.P. Cavafy, 1930
from The Unfinished Poems, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn
Note: In Mendelson’s inspired piece of research, The Unfinished Poems,
he notes that Cavafy included the words “complete and utter”
alongside the word “abandonment” in his original draft.

Tagged: Abandonment, Cavafy, gay, vintage gay photo, vintage male affection, vintage photography