Constantine P. Cavafy
Translated by Edmund Keeley
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men just in from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul
Constantine P. Cavafy
Translated by Edmund Keeley
Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.