Poem for Tuesday

Remember, Body...
By Constantine Cavafy
Translated by John Ioannidis

Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds on which you lay,
but also those desires which for you
plainly glowed in the eyes,
and trembled in the voice -- and some
chance obstacle made them futile.
Now that all belongs to the past,
it is almost as if you had yielded
to those desires too -- remember,
how they glowed, in the eyes looking at you;
how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body.

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Quick update as I need to go to bed very early because I have to get up very early for the next two days -- is going to New York on business on an insanely early flight tomorrow, so I have to do all the kids' morning stuff myself. We went Sunday with my parents to Gunston Hall, George Mason's plantation in Virginia, a bit down the river from Mount Vernon though Mason and Washington were hardly sociable by the end of his life (previous photos and report here and here); my parents had never been there, so we did the guided house tour, and had the most garrulous tour guide in the history of house tours...not that I'm knocking knowledge but if I'd wanted to know that much detail about the production of Georgian wallpaper, I'd have looked it up in a book. *g* It was a beautiful day, if rather warm, and we walked through the upper gardens and went to see the animals on the estate farm because no way was younger son leaving without trying to pet the sheep.


A view from the landward side of Gunston Hall, with the river behind it...


...and from the back, standing in the gardens.


The view in the opposite direction from the gardens is of the deer park and Potomac River beyond. Mason had his own ship landing.


He also had his own mark engraved on many of the storage vessels in the kitchens.


Photos were not allowed in the house, but this is a fragment of the reproduction wallpaper in the main parlor.

Went to dinner at Coastal Flats in Tysons Corner Mall after striking out finding the British candy shoppe in Tysons II because it has closed! Where am I going to get Nestle Mint Aero bars! *sobs* I had really excellent grilled salmon, various other family members had crab cakes, fish fingers and lobster bisque, then we went back to my parents' house for birthday cake for my father who is not in the least happy about approaching 70. Have spent the evening watching Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed and snickering at how much credit everyone gives Lucas instead of noting all the filmmakers as well as mythic sources from whom he borrowed, though it's always fun to see something like this because when I cut school to go see The Return of the Jedi on opening day and got a guilt trip from my mother, I wrote my English and history teachers an overnight 10-page paper on archetypes in the Star Wars trilogy, mostly using Northrop Frye as a reference since I hadn't yet read Joseph Campbell.