There is no evidence that the eminent Greek poet, Konstantinos Kavafis (Constantine Petrou Cavafy, 1863-1933), has ever been to the island of Mallorca or to the island capital, Palma.

But, if ever the fancy should take you, you could pay homage to the good man who was born, lived and died in Alexandria (Egypt), during a visit to the Jardins de s’Hort del Rei, in Palma de Mallorca, and read part of a short poem by Kavafis inscribed there.

The Catalan artist Josep Maria Subirachs (Barcelona, 1927) is the creator of a sculpture placed in these lovely gardens, being titled Jònica (1963). The sculpture is made of marble and carries the inscription of an excerpt of the poem Ionic by Cavafy. As is so very often the case in Mallorca, the Municipal authorities of Palma were not prepared to pay any fees for the artist’s creation but, after much haggling accepted the sculpture as a gift in 1983, simply paying for the material used and the man hours spent.

I could not find a manuscript of the ‘Ionic’ poem on the Internet. Instead let me offer you a Cavafy manuscript of the poem Keriá (Candles).

If you would like to know more about the poet Cavafy, you might want to consult the C. P. Cavafy website.

Should you like to know more about the artist Subirachs, you will find the biography of J. M. Subirachs on the Caixa Penedès website.

The photo (top) was chosen from my archive. It was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 18th, 2004. The time was 11:07:58. The photo (bottom) was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 13th, 2009. The time was 14:07:56. The image of the handwritten poem ‘Keriá’ was taken from the Internet. Thanks are due to Wikipedia.