Michael Dirda

A new translation offers fresh takes on the most celebrated Greek poet of modern times.

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By Michael Dirda

Sunday, April 16, 2006

THE COLLECTED POEMS OF C.P. CAVAFY

Translated from the Greek by Aliki Barnstone

Norton. 264 pp. $25.95

Constantine Cavafy, said E.M. Forster in 1923, could sometimes be glimpsed standing in the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, "at a slight angle to the universe." Since then, the literary world's axis has shifted, and Cavafy now seems a central pillar of 20th-century poetry. The title of one of his poems, "Waiting for the Barbarians," has practically become a catchphrase, while "The God Abandons Antony" has long been an anthem of stoic hedonism. Here is Aliki Barnstone's new version (a collaboration with her father, Willis Barnstone):

When suddenly at the midnight hour

you hear the invisible troupe passing by

with sublime music, with voices --

don't futilely mourn your luck giving out, your work

collapsing, the designs of your life

that have all proved to be illusions.

As if long prepared, as if full of courage,

say good-bye to her, the Alexandria who is leaving.

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