THE IDES OF MARCH

 

Tomás Sánchez

 My soul, guard against pomp and glory.

And if you can’t curb your ambitions,

at least pursue them hesitantly, cautiously.

And the higher you go,

the more searching and careful you need to be.

And when you reach your summit, Caesar at last —

when you assume the role of someone as great as that —

be really careful as you go out into the street,

a conspicuous man of power with your retinue;

and should a certain Artemidoros

come up to you out of the crowd, bringing a letter,

and say hurriedly: “Read this right away.

It’s about you, and it’s vitally important,”

be sure to stop; be sure to put off

all talk or business; be sure to keep clear

of those who salute and bow to you

(they can be seen later); let even

the Senate itself wait — and find out at once

what vital news Artemidoros has written down for you.

C.P. Cavafy

The Pawn

 

 Victoria Ivanova

As I often watch people playing chess

my eye follows one Pawn

that little by little finds his way

and manages to reach the last line in time.

He goes to the edge with such eagerness

that you reckon here surely will start

his enjoyments and his rewards.

He finds many hardships on the way.

Marchers hurl slanted lances at him;

the fortresses strike at him with their wide

flanks; within two of their squares

speedy horsemen artfully

seek to stop him from advancing

and here and there in a cornering menace

a pawn emerges on his path

sent from the enemy camp.

But he is saved from all perils

and he manages to reach the last line in time

How triumphantly he gets there in time,

to the formidable last line;

how eagerly he approaches his own death!

For here the Pawn will perish

and all his pains were only for this.

He came to fall in the Hades of chess

to resurrect from the grave

the queen who will save us.

C.P. Cavafy

Theodotos

 

Ondrej Medved

 If you are one of the truly elect,

be careful how you attain your eminence.

However much you're acclaimed, however much

the cities praise the great things you've done

in Italy and Thessaly,

whatever honours

your admirers decree for you in Rome,

your elation, your triumph won't last,

nor will you feel yourself so superior-

superior is the last thing you'll feel-

when Theodotos brings you, in Alexandria,

on a blood-stained tray,

miserable Pompey's head.

And don't be too sure that in your life-

restricted, regulated, prosaic-

spectacular and horrible things like that don't happen.

Maybe this very moment Theodotos-

bodiless, invisible-

enters some neighbour's tidy house

carrying an equally repulsive head.

Constantine P. Cavafy

Things Ended

 

Phil McKay

 Engulfed by fear and suspicion,

mind agitated, eyes alarmed,

we try desperately to invent ways out,

plan how to avoid

the obvious danger that threatens us so terribly.

Yet we're mistaken, that's not the danger ahead:

the news was wrong

(or we didn't hear it, or didn't get it right).

Another disaster, one we never imagined,

suddenly, violently, descends upon us,

and finding us unprepared -there's no time now-

sweeps us away.

Constantine P. Cavafy

The City

 

 You said: “I’ll go to another country, go to another shore,

find another city better than this one.

Whatever I try to do is fated to turn out wrong

and my heart lies buried like something dead.

How long can I let my mind moulder in this place?

Wherever I turn, wherever I look,

I see the black ruins of my life, here,

where I’ve spent so many years, wasted them, destroyed them totally.”

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 neighborhoods, turn gray 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.

C. P. Cavafy

in, Collected Poems

As Much As You Can

 

Anka Zhuravleva 

Even if you can't shape your life the way you want,

at least try as much as you can

not to degrade it

by too much contact with the world,

by too much activity and talk.

Do not degrade it by dragging it along,

taking it around and exposing it so often

to the daily silliness

of social relations and parties,

until it comes to seem a boring hanger-on.

Constantine P. Cavafy

Ithaka

 

Dan Grinwis

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:

you’ll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind—

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

C.P. Cavafy

in, "Collected Poems"