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C. P. Cavafy:
The last Byzantine Nobleman
I am from Constantinople, a Byzantine by descent,
My family lived there before the Turks took the city in 1453.
I was born and died in the same place, Alexandria,
Egypt, on the same day, April 29th 1863, and finally 1933.
I am homosexual and I died of cancer of the larynx.
So, I was silenced but nobody knew the difference.
There were many years between my visits to Greece
But I always loved my Hellenic inheritance.
I lived much of my childhood in England.
My last employment was as a government clerk.
I can write in Greek, English and French.
I self-published my poetry but it was unpopular
and unfashionable. I made no money from poetry.
In my poems, I explore the psychology of individuals,
and the legacy of Greek culture, especially
Ithaca, homosexuality and Greek philosophy.
Throughout my life, and even now, I suffer
From an all-pervasive existential nostalgia.
Now my poems are taught in schools in Greece
One of my most famous poems is
Waiting for the Barbarians
Which could be about Constantinople
in the years before the Ottoman conquest
Or could it be about the human tendency to prevaricate?
Who knows?
What’s the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
