It’s time once more for that most joyous of occasions – linking up and joining the discussions at the dVerse Poets Pub. This time I have a dreamy love poem inspired by Greek poet Kavafis (known as Cavafy). Don’t they say we should never talk about the moon in poetry, that it’s too commonplace? In celebration of World Poetry Day (which was yesterday), I will break such rules.
Thin sliver all that’s left of the moon
over Alexandria’s port tonight.
We map out each other’s body
on scented sheets in shuttered rooms
your heartbeat in my palm
then slink into the shadows
complicit in their deepening
to journey so far from our generous beginning.
findingtimetowrite 
Oh very fine work. I love the imagery in this poem. You take me there to places I’ve never seen, and feelings I may never have had. A journey in a few words..that’s poetry!
Thank you, my dear, trying to convey that very Cavafyan mood.
Love the mood of that place in Alexandria… the heartbeat in your palm is great… and I do think you managed to use the moon in the best of ways.
Sometimes you just have to mention that pesky moon, right?
I realized the moon was in my poem too.
I love the mood of this too. The name Alexandria is hot, desert and Alexander the Great for me. All in so few atmospheric lines.
Oh, please don’t remind me of my girlish crush on Alexander the Great…And The Alexandria Quartet by Durrell.
Have you read Mary Renault’s Alexander trilogy? If you haven’t, you must. I’ve reread it several times and I still love her portrayal of Alexander.
This is wonderfully evocative, Marina Sofia. And you’ve conveyed the setting and feeling just beautifully!
Ah, to be there…
I think someone just turned up the heat!
Hee hee…
This is lovely!💖 I love how you depict passion and intimacy with the phrase “heartbeat in my palm.”😍
Thank you – Cavafy’s poems are very erotic, but not obvious, so I had to find a similar way to express that.
So lovely, Marina. The moon may be regarded as a cliche but I think it works beautifully here, and I echo the love of the phrase “heartbeat in my palm” – wonderful!
I love this poem, Marina Sofia! “journey so far from our generous beginning”–oh, it’s one of those lines that just keeps on resonating!
Thank you, Carmen. A little bit of confessional creeping in there…
I love the imagery of that moon,and the passion of the heartbeats into another journey ~ Wishing you a good week and weekend !
Lovely!
I love what you have done with the imager here and how it wraps into the mood of the piece–beautiful write!
I use the moon in my poems all the time, in fact am getting ready to post on in Real Toads. I live this passionate poem of yours. “Heartbeat in my hand…” perfect to describe the during of passikn.
This is why babies are born in December!! Great poem.
Dwight
Beautiful poem!
I love the passion, the delightful imagery in this most luscious poem. Yum!
Anna :o]
I love these lines:
“complicit in their deepening
to journey so far from our generous beginning.”
Describing the beckoning of endless love. And that is why we write of the moon, that ever present reminder of that beckoning.
And perhaps also the reminder of how far we fall short…
I like the generous beginning at the end.
such a heartfelt poem, so romantic. Who doesn’t talk about the moon? But you do it in a lovely, evocative way. Just beautiful. I would love to be in that shuttered room.
Ah, but perhaps also a guilty passion that dare not speak its name… that can only come alive in that shuttered room.
complicit just rolls off the tongue. complicit, complicit. ahhh. nice work. (and not just on the unquestionably curt complicit part) 😀
Beautiful poem!
Hmm, a deliciously sensational piece. What? To stop writing about the moon? Perhaps when she stops rising and setting, then I’ll think about it. Ha.
Exactly!