Poetry Friday: The God Abandons Antony

The God Abandons Antony

When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who were given this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.

- Constantine P. Cavafy

I know this poem is about death and losing and gods deserting you. I know it's about doomed Antony, of historic fame as told by Plutarch, and of literary fame, as made immortal by Shakespeare. But there is something so defiant and joyous in the rhythms of it that I can't help reading it aloud and feeling that I, too, have been given "this kind of city" on some rare days.

Listen to the exquisite music of that strange procession.

The Poetry Friday round-up is with Mary Lee and Franki today, at A Year of Reading.