The City

			     by C.P.Cavafy

      You said: ``I'll go to another land, go to another sea,
      find some other town better than this one.
      Fated, condemned, is all that I've ever done
      and my heart, like a dead body, is buried in a tomb.
      How long must my mind remain within this gloom?
      When I cast my eyes about me, look no matter where,
      I see the back ruins of my life, here,
      where I've spent so many years -- wasted them, destroyed them
      utterly.''

      You will not find new lands, not find another sea.
      The city will follow you.  You'll wander down
      these very streets, age in these same quarters of the town,
      among the same houses finally turn grey.
      You'll reach this city always.  Don't hope to get away:
      for you there is no ship, no road anywhere.
      As you've destroyed your life here,
      in this small corner, so in the whole world you've wrecked it
      utterly.