I’ll endure looking at it, damaged as it is

I had in mind to place it on a wall of my room. 

But the damp of the drawer damaged it. 

I won’t put this photograph in a frame. 

I ought to have looked after it more carefully. 

Those lips, that face— 

ah if only for a day, only for an 

hour their past would return. 

I won’t put this photograph in a frame. 

I’ll endure looking at it, damaged as it is. 

Besides, even if it weren’t damaged, 

it would be annoying to be on guard lest some 

word, some tone of voice betrayed— 

if they ever questioned me about it. 

[C.P. Cavafy {1863-1933} 'From the Drawer' from Poems  in Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets]