5.

The City

You said, "I will go to another city, I will go to another sea.
Another city will be found, a better one than this.
Every effort of mine is a condemnation of fate;
any my heart is - like a corpse - buried.
How long will my mind remain in this wasteland.
Wherever I turn my eyes, wherever I may look
I see black ruins of my life here,
where I spent so many years destroying and wasting."

You will find no new lands, you will find no other seas.
The city will follow you. You will roam the same
streets. You will age in the same neighbourhoods;
and you will grow gray in these same houses.
Always you will arrive in this city. Do not hope for any other -
There is no ship for you, there is no road.
As you have destroyed your life here
in this little corner, you have ruined it in the entire world.


- Constantine P. Cavafy, trans. Rae Delven