Cavafy: 166 Poems

The Trojans
Our efforts are those of people caught in a disaster

our efforts are like those of the Trojans:

we succeed a little, do

a little better, and we start

having heart and good hope.

But something always turns up to stop us:

Achilles at the ditch ahead comes out

and scares us with loud shouts.

Our efforts are like those of the Trojans:

we assume that with decision and nerve

we’ll change the downward course of our luck,

and we take our stand outside to fight.

But when the big trial comes,

nerve and decision get lost:

our spirits are troubled, paralyzed,

and all around the walls we run

trying to escape by flight.

Our fall nevertheless is sure. Above

on the walls, the lament has already begun:

they are mourning memories and impressions of our days,

bitterly Priam and Hecuba weep for us.

Che Fece . . . il Gran Rifiuto
To certain persons there comes one day

when they must say the one Yes or the one No.

He can promptly be seen, the man who has

ready within him the Yes:

Saying it he goes on to honor and trust.

He who said No does not repent: if asked again

he would again say No; yet it continues to undo him

that No—the right one—for the rest of his life.

The God Leaves Anthony