Collected Poems (1992), When the Watchman Saw the Light (1900)
Context: Now the longed-for signal has appeared. Yet when happiness comes
it brings less joy than one expected.
But at least we've gained this much: we've rid ourselves
of hope and expectation.
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“The Spartans weren't to be led
and ordered around
like precious servants.”
" In The Year 200 B.C. http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_1.htm" (1931)
Context: The Spartans weren't to be led
and ordered around
like precious servants. Besides,
they wouldn't have thought a pan-Hellenic expedition
without a Spartan king in command
was to be taken very seriously.
Of course, then, "except the Lacedaimonians." That's certainly one point of view. Quite understandable.
Growing in Spirit http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_130.htm (1903)
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: He who hopes to grow in spirit
will have to transcend obedience and respect.
He'll hold to some laws
but he'll mostly violate
both law and custom, and go beyond
the established, inadequate norm.
Sensual pleasures will have much to teach him.
He won't be afraid of the destructive act:
half the house will have to come down.
This way he'll grow virtuously into wisdom.
Source: http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=157&cat=4 On Hearing of Love
Collected Poems (1992)
“His friends weren’t Christians; that much was certain.”
Julian Seeing Contempt http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=108&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: His friends weren’t Christians; that much was certain.
But even so they couldn’t play
as he could (brought up a Christian)
with a new religious system,
ludicrous in both theory and application.
They were, after all, Greeks. Nothing in excess, Augustus.
“Honor to those who in the life they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae.”
Thermopylae http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=69&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: Honor to those who in the life they lead
define and guard a Thermopylae.
Never betraying what is right,
consistent and just in all they do
but showing pity also, and compassion;
generous when they are rich, and when they are poor,
still generous in small ways,
still helping as much as they can;
always speaking the truth,
yet without hating those who lie.
“Perhaps the light will prove another tyranny.
Who knows what new things it will expose?”
The Windows http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=137&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: It will be a great relief when a window opens.
But the windows are not there to be found —
or at least I cannot find them. And perhaps
it is better that I don’t find them.
Perhaps the light will prove another tyranny.
Who knows what new things it will expose?
“I created you while I was happy, while I was sad,
with so many incidents, so many details.”
" In the Same Space http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_134.htm" (1929)
Context: p>I created you while I was happy, while I was sad,
with so many incidents, so many details.And, for me, the whole of you has been transformed into feeling.</p
"After the Swim" as translated by Daniel Mendelsohn
“That's certainly one point of view. Quite understandable.”
" In The Year 200 B.C. http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_1.htm" (1931)
Context: The Spartans weren't to be led
and ordered around
like precious servants. Besides,
they wouldn't have thought a pan-Hellenic expedition
without a Spartan king in command
was to be taken very seriously.
Of course, then, "except the Lacedaimonians." That's certainly one point of view. Quite understandable.
“You won't find a new country, won't find another shore.
This city will always pursue you.”
" The City http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_33.htm", st. 2 (1910)
Context: You won't find a new country, won't find another shore.
This city will always pursue you.
You'll walk the same streets, grow old
in the same neighbourhoods, turn grey in these same houses.
You'll always end up in this city. Don't hope for things elsewhere:
there's no ship for you, there's no road.
Now that you've wasted your life here, in this small corner,
you've destroyed it everywhere in the world.
An Old Man http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=39&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: He knows he’s aged a lot: he sees it, feels it.
Yet it seems he was young just yesterday.
So brief an interval, so very brief. And he thinks of Prudence, how it fooled him,
how he always believed — what madness —
that cheat who said: “Tomorrow. You have plenty of time.”
“The greatest gods of our glorious Greece
appeared before you.”
Julian at the Mysteries http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=166&cat=4
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: The greatest gods of our glorious Greece
appeared before you.
And if they left, don’t think for a minute
that they were frightened by a gesture.
Source: To Have Taken The Trouble (1930), l. 28
Context: One of the three will want me anyway.
And my conscience is quiet
about my not caring which one I choose:
the three of them are equally bad for Syria. But, a ruined man, it's not my fault.
I'm only trying, poor devil, to make ends meet.
The almighty gods ought to have taken the trouble
to create a fourth, a decent man.
I would gladly have gone along with him.
The Ides of March http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=86&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
The First Step http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=145&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: Just to be on the first step
should make you happy and proud.
To have come this far is no small achievement:
what you have done is a glorious thing.
Even this first step
is a long way above the ordinary world.
To stand on this step
you must be in your own right
a member of the city of ideas.
And it is a hard, unusual thing
to be enrolled as a citizen of that city.
Its councils are full of Legislators
no charlatan can fool.
Ionic http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=76&cat=1.
Variant translation: Because we have broken up their images,
because we have expelled them from their fanes,
in no wise are they dead for that — the gods.
Land of Ionia, it is you they love
still — you whose memories still delight their souls.
Poems by C. P. Cavafy as translated by John Cavafy (2003) http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=205&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: That we’ve broken their statues,
that we’ve driven them out of their temples,
doesn’t mean at all that the gods are dead.
O land of Ionia, they’re still in love with you,
their souls still keep your memory.
“It will be a great relief when a window opens.”
The Windows http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=137&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: It will be a great relief when a window opens.
But the windows are not there to be found —
or at least I cannot find them. And perhaps
it is better that I don’t find them.
Perhaps the light will prove another tyranny.
Who knows what new things it will expose?
“People of Kommagini, let the glory of Antiochos,
the noble king, be celebrated as it deserves.”
" Epitaph of Antiochos, King of Kommagini http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_115.htm" (1923) <!-- some of the ironies of the poem are lost with only this portion of it … but so it goes...-->
Context: People of Kommagini, let the glory of Antiochos,
the noble king, be celebrated as it deserves.
He was a provident ruler of the country.
He was just, wise, courageous.
In addition he was that best of all things, Hellenic —
mankind has no quality more precious:
everything beyond that belongs to the gods.
“When they saw Patroklos dead
— so brave and strong, so young —
the horses of Achilles began to weep”
The Horses of Achilles http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=134&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: When they saw Patroklos dead
— so brave and strong, so young —
the horses of Achilles began to weep;
their immortal nature was upset deeply
by this work of death they had to look at.