Fate came and ended things in too much of a hurry

At any rate it wouldn’t have lasted long. Years
of experience make that clear to me. But still, Fate
came and ended things in too much of a hurry.
The life of loveliness was brief.
But how powerful our perfumed unctions were,
how exquisite the bed in which we lay,
to what pleasure we gave our bodies away.

A reverberation of the days of pleasure,
a reverberation echo of those days drew near me,
something we two had in our youth, the fire;
once more I took a letter in my hands,
and I read it over and over, till the light failed.

And I went out onto the balcony, melancholy--
went out so I might clear my head by seeing at least
a little of this town I love so well,
some little movement in the street, and in the shops.

[C.P. Cavafy {1863-1933}, 'In Evening', from Poems {Everyman's Library Pocket Poets}]