Kavafis

Konstantine Kavafis, usually found as C.Cavafy in English, is outside of Greece one of the best known modern Greek poets. I translated his poem "The God Abandons Antony". Note a "sacrilegious" last line change where I replaced the original "say goodbye to Alexandria going away" because it seemed to me a non-Greek audience might find it too obscure...


The God Abandons Antony

If late, past the midnight hour,
you hear strange, eerie music wafting up the streets,
then your plans, that bore no fruit,
your wishes, that will never be fulfilled,
your hopes, all in vain,
weep not for nothing.
Like a man long prepared, like a man brave,
say goodbye to this city which you're losing.

Above all do not fool yourself,
don't say your mind is playing you tricks;
don't say your ears cheat you;
such empty hope do not deign to accept.

Like a man long prepared, like a man brave,
like a man worthy to have owned such a city,
walk steady to the window and listen
moved, but without the tears or the pleading of a lesser man,
listen to this last gift, this last delight,
these otherworldly, eerie sounds of the godly troupe,
and say goodbye to your life that ends today.