SEPTEMBER 1903

Let me at least fill myself with delusion now;
that I might not feel my life empty.
So many times I was so close.
Yet how paralyzed, how fainthearted I was;
why was it I remained with lips sealed;
my empty life weeping within me,
and my desires dressing themselves in black.
So many times to be so close to those eyes,
to those sensuous lips, to that perfect, beloved body.
So many times to be so close.

 C.P.Cavafy