Frans Hals, "Malle Babbe," c.1630

-- Frans Hals, Malle Babbe, oil on canvas, 75cm by 64cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, c. 1630.

"Hidden Things" by C.P. Cavafy

Hidden Things

Let them not seek to discover who I was

from all that I have done and said.

An obstacle was there that transformed

the deeds and the manner of my life.

An obstacle was there that stopped me

many times when I was about to speak.

Only from my most imperceptible deeds

and my most covert writings --

from these alone will they understand me.

But perhaps it isn't worth exerting

such care and such effort for them to know me.

Later, in the more perfect society,

surely some other person created like me

will appear and act freely.

-- C.P. Cavafy, "Hidden Things," The Complete Poems of Cavafy, trans. Rae Dalven, Harcourt, Inc., 1989, p. 268.