Esto era lo que había en él de singular: que en medio de toda su vida disoluta y de su mucha experiencia en el amor, a pesar de la habitual armonía e… - Konstantinos P. Cavafy

He came to read; two or three books
are lying open: history and poetry.
But after just ten minutes of reading
he lets them drop. There on the sofa
he falls asleep. He truly is devoted to reading-
but he is twenty-three years old, and very handsome.
And just this afternoon, Eros surged
within his perfect limbs and on his lips.
Into his beautiful flesh came the heat of passion,
and there was no foolish embarrassment
about the form that pleasure took..

It is one of the talents of great stylists to make obsolete words cease from appearing obsolete through the way in which they introduce them in their writing. Obsolete words which under the pens of others would seem stilted or out of place, occur most naturally under theirs. This is owing to the tact & judgment of the writers who know when — & when only — the disused term can be introduced, when it is artistically agreeable or linguistically necessary; & of course then the obsolete word becomes obsolete only in name. It is recalled into existence by the natural requirements of a powerful or subtle style. It is not a corpse disinterred (as with less skillful writers) but a beautiful body awaked from a long & refreshing sleep.

Return often and take me,
beloved sensation, return and take me –
when the body’s memory awakens,
and old longings pulse again in my blood,
when lips and skin remember,
and hands could almost touch again. Return often and take me at night,
when lips and skin remember.