Cavafy Poem 112: Before Time Changed Them

I recently posted this translation on my other You Tube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/brychar66?gl=GB&hl=en-GB
but need to post it here also to keep to my original plan of having all my Cavafy translations in one place; and in order not to break the sequence.


Cavafy has had a number of translators over the years, Daniel Mendelsohn being the latest of a long (and increasing) line. As I have pointed out before and perhaps need to reiterate from time to time, my purpose is not to give a 'straight' translation of Cavafy's poems but rather to recreate them in English verse. That is to say, while I make every attempt to be faithful to Cavafy's text and to give the full flavour of each poem, I seek also to create a rounded, whole English poem, as one would expect from a living creative poet. I posted this poem on my brychar66 channel initially because I think I have achieved my intentions with regard to Cavafy in this poem, no. 112. While retaining the 'story' that lies at the heart of Cavafy's poem, I have done so in such a way as (or so I think) to create an original poem in the English language.


CAVAFY POEM 112. BEFORE TIME CHANGED THEM

translated by Charles Bryant


The parting hot and tearful on either side,
sudden excess of passion at the end
between these two whose love had somewhat cooled.
Poverty drove one of them abroad,
seeking fame and success in that new world
that shone like a star of hope across the sea
drawing the separate lover far away.

Their attachment was intense. But all desire,
like a photographic image, fades with time,
exposed to the fierce light of the shining sun.
The hotter the fire, the quicker it consumes,
leaving glowing embers among the ash.
Even so, parting was not their wish.

Circumstance the moulder; Fate the sculptor:
they were his material, his clay,
later to be adored in chiselled marble.
He ripped their lumpen oneness with his fists,
tearing their singularity apart,
seeking to achieve by static art
perfection of lone immortality.
He succeeded as only genius can.

The Master's work was done. In afterlight
each image stamped how each looked in his prime,
the quayside look, before it was too late,
before the artistic sundering was complete -
young and handsome across the gulf of time;
eternally young, and vulnerable, and bright.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• cavafy
• before
• time
• changed
• them
• poetry
• in
• english
• daniel
• mendelsohn
• charles
• bryant
• ray
• noble
• the
• very
• thought
• of
• you
• spoken
• word
• performing
• arts

[cavafyinenglish]

Many thanks Charlie. Perhaps you might give us Mendelsohn's take on this poem one of these days. I have the versions of John Mavrogordato and Evangelos Sachperoglou (both native Greek speakers). And there are others on the Net including Edmund Keeley's. Regards, Chas.

[teamdeaf]

This is a wonderful translation, Charles. You really captured Cavafy's eroticism, among other elements of his poetry.