Читать книгу The Complete Poems of C.P. Cavafy - Daniel Mendelsohn, Daniel Mendelsohn - Страница 14

What a pity, given that you’re made

for deeds that are glorious and great,

that this unjust fate of yours always

leads you on, and denies you your success;

that base habits get in your way,

and pettinesses, and indifference.

How terrible, too, the day when you give in

(the day when you let yourself go and give in),

and leave to undertake the trip to Susa,

and go to the monarch Artaxerxes,

who graciously establishes you at court,

and offers you satrapies, and the like.

And you, you accept them in despair,

these things that you don’t want.

But your soul seeks, weeps for other things:

the praise of the People and the Sophists,

the hard-won, priceless “Bravos”;

the Agora, the Theatre, and the victors’ Crowns.

How will Artaxerxes give you them,

how will you find them in the satrapy;

and what kind of life, without them, will you live.

[1905; 1910]