'The Rest I Will Tell to Those Down In Hades'

Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)



'Indeed,' said the proconsul, closing the book,
'This line is beautiful and very true.
Sophocles wrote it in a deeply philosophic mood.
How much we'll tell down there, how much,
and how very different we'll appear.
What we protect here like sleepless guards,
wounds and secrets locked inside us,
protect with such great anxiety day after day,
we'll reveal freely and clearly down there.'
'You might add,' said the sophist, half smiling,
'if they talk about things like that down there,
if they bother about them at all any more.'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 07, 2023

28 sec read
80

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJIK
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 526
Words 96
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12

Constantine P. Cavafy

Constantine P. Cavafy was a Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant. He published 154 poems; dozens more remained incomplete or in sketch form. His most important poetry was written after his fortieth birthday. more…

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