Varvari
Varvari
Kai tora tha genoume horis barbarous.
Oi anthropoi autoi esan mia kapoia lysis
- Kavafi
Najzad, glasnici su došli i rekli: Varvari dolaze.
U gradu se spremaju da ih dočekaju:
Oduševljeni mladići već uzvikuju njihova imena
I žuri da slave nove bogove.
Ne govore li pesnici kako su oni neko rešenje?
Sad pišu pesme u njihovu slavu
I čekaju dan kada će ih glasno čitati
Dok zadivljeni varvari (pod oružjem)
Budu pljeskali, i učili ih napamet.
Već vide svoje pesme velikim slovima ispisane
Okačene u pročeljima hramova
Iz kojih će izgnati onemoćala božanstva,
Vide biblioteke prepune svojih knjiga
Iz kojih će izbaciti priče što više nikom ništa ne govore.
Ali ne znaju pesnici da će oni prvi biti obešeni na gradskom trgu
Zajedno sa mladićima što su požurili da otvore kapije
I puste u grad one koje su tako željno čekali.
Jer varvari su varvari, i nisu nikakvo rešenje.
[Iz knjige Sabrane pesme, Rad, Beograd, 2002.]
Barbarians
Kai tora tha genoume horis barbarous.
Oi anthropoi autoi esan mia kapoia lysis
- Kavafi
At last the heralds came and said: barbarians are coming.
The town makes itself ready to receive them:
Excited youngsters shout their names
And hurry out to glorify new gods.
For don't the poets say they're a solution?
They've started writing poems to their fame
In expectation of the day they'll read them out aloud
Whilst the astonished barbarians (bearing arms)
Applaud and learn them off by heart.
They see their poems written large
And hung above the temples' porticos
From where enfeebled deities have been ejected.
Libraries, they see, full of their books
And tales which no one any longer needs to tell thrown out.
But what the poets couldn't know: they'll be the first to hand in the town square
Next to the youngsters who rushed to open wide the gates
And let into the town the ones they waited for so ardently.
For barbarians are barbarians, and no kind of solution.
(Translated by Bernard Johnon)
Βάρβαροι
Και τώρα τι θα γένουμε χωρίς βαρβάρους.
Οι άνθρωποι αυτοί ήσαν μιά κάποια λύσις.
-Καβάφης
Έν τέλει, οι μαντατοφόροι ήλθαν
και είπαν: Οι βάρβαροι έρχονται.
Στην πόλη προετοιμάζονται
λοιπόν να τους καλωσορίσουν:
Πρόσχαροι νέοι ήδη αναφωνούν
τα ονόματά τους ,και βιάζονται
να τιμήσουν τούς νέους θεούς.
Οι ποιητές δεν μας λένε
πως είναι μία κάποια λύσις;
Γράφουν, ακόμα και τώρα
που μιλάμε, τραγούδια ένδοξα
Και προσμένουν την ημέρα
που θα τα απαγγείλουν δυνατά
Ενώ οι θαυμαστοί βάρβαροι (Οπλισμένοι όλοι)
Χειροκροτούν, και τους παραδίδουν στην θύμηση.
Βλέπουν ήδη τα τραγούδια τους γραμμένα με κεφαλαία
Στερεωμένα πάνω απ' τις εισόδους των ναών
Απ' τους οποίους θα εκδιώξουν τους εξασθενημένους θεούς,
Βλέπουν βιβλιοθήκες να υπερχειλίζουν απ' τα βιβλία τους
Απ' τα οποία θα διαγράψουν ιστορίες που δεν λένε πιά τίποτα σε κανένα.
Αλλά οι ποιητές δεν συνειδητοποιούν ότι θα είναι οι πρώτοι που
θα κρεμαστούν καταμεσής στης πόλης την πλατεία
Μαζί με τούς νέους που έτρεξαν βιαστικά ν'ανοίξουν τις πύλες
Και την είσοδο σ'αυτούς που τούς ανέμεναν τόσο πρόθυμα.
Γιατί οι βάρβαροι είναι βάρβαροι, και δεν είναι ουδεμία λύσις.
Barbarians
- Kavafi
Finally, the messengers came and said: The barbarians are coming.
In the city they are preparing to welcome them:
Delighted young men already exclaim their names
And hurry to praise the new gods.
Do the poets not tell us they are a kind of solution?
They write, even as we speak, songs to their glory
And await the day when they will read them aloud
While the marvelling barbarians (bearing arms)
Applaud, and commit them to memory.
They already see their songs written in capitals
Fixed above entrances to temples
From which they will oust weakened gods,
They see libraries overflowing with their books
From which they will erase stories that no longer speak to anyone.
But the poets do not realise that they will be the first to hang in the city square
Together with the young men who rushed to open the gates
And grant entrance to those whom they awaited so eagerly.
Because barbarians are barbarians, and no kind of solution.
(Translated by Pavle Ninković)
