Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/modern/cavafy_asmuchas.asp

ELPENOR - Home of the Greek Word

Three Millennia of Greek Literature
 

Cavafy Bilingual Anthology : AS MUCH AS YOU CAN

from Poems 1905-15, * Translated by Elpenor  * Greek Fonts


ELPENOR EDITIONS IN PRINT

The Original Greek New Testament

F YOU can't make your life as you want it,

even then, try this at least

as much as you can: don't cheapen it

in all those gatherings of the world,

in all that move and talk.

 

 

Don't cheapen it, taking it,

dragging it often and exposing it

to the relations' and associations'

daily folly

until it becomes like a strange one, burdensome.

 

Ὅσο μπορεῖς

Κι ἂν δὲν μπορεῖς νὰ κάμεις τὴν ζωή σου ὅπως τὴν θέλεις

τοῦτο προσπάθησε τουλάχιστον

ὅσο μπορεῖς : μὴν τὴν ἐξευτελίζεις

μὲς στὴν πολλὴ συνάφεια τοῦ κόσμου,

μὲς στὲς πολλὲς κινήσεις κι ὁμιλίες.

 

Μὴν τὴν ἐξευτελίζεις πιαίνοντάς την,

γυρίζοντας συχνὰ κ' ἐκθέτοντάς την

στῶν σχέσεων καὶ τῶν συναναστροφῶν

τὴν καθημερινὴν ἀνοησία,

ὣς ποὺ νὰ γίνει σὰ μιὰ ξένη φορτική.

 

Cf. PAPATSONIS : Scheme, Hestia, Wisdom, In Rising Sound


Three Millennia of Greek Literature

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Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/modern/cavafy_asmuchas.asp