The City by C.P. Cavafy

You said: "I'll go to another country, go to another shore,
find another city better than this one.
Whatever I try to do is fated to turn out wrong
and my heart lies buried like something dead.

How long can I let my mind moulder in this place?
Wherever I turn, wherever I look,
I see the black ruins of my life, here,w
where I've spent so many years, wasted them, destroyed them totally."          

You won't find a new country, won't find another shore.

This city will always pursue you.

You'll walk the same streets, grow old          

in the same neighborhoods, turn gray in these same houses.          

You'll always end up in this city. Don't hope for things elsewhere:          

there's no ship for you, there's no road.          

Now that you've wasted your life here, in this small corner,          

you've destroyed it everywhere in the world.

Comments

[Jemima]

This poem matched my mood exactly. Thank you for posting it.

[Stavros]

Jemima,

The poets who make a lasting impact are those who express something which resides in us as well.