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For those who talk about Brussels' 'vassal states' and a 'colonial settlement'.
Two extracts from a poem by C. P. Cavafy
From In a Large Greek Colony, 200 B.C.
That things in the Colony are not what they should be
no one can doubt any longer,
and though in spite of everything we do go forward,
maybe—as more than a few believe—the time has come
to bring in a Political Reformer....
Maybe the moment has not yet arrived.
Let’s not be too hasty: haste is a dangerous thing.
Untimely measures bring repentance.
Certainly, and unhappily, many things in the Colony are absurd.
But is there anything human without some fault?
And after all, you see, we do go forward.
Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard.
(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992)
That things in the Colony are not what they should be
no one can doubt any longer,
and though in spite of everything we do go forward,
maybe—as more than a few believe—the time has come
to bring in a Political Reformer....
Let’s not be too hasty: haste is a dangerous thing.
Untimely measures bring repentance.
Certainly, and unhappily, many things in the Colony are absurd.
But is there anything human without some fault?
And after all, you see, we do go forward.
Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard.
(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992)
Extracts from the Rae Delven translation
Perhaps the moment has not yet arrived.
Let us not hurry: speed is a dangerous thing.
Untimely measures bring repentance.
Certainly, and unhappily, many things are wrong in the Colony,
But is there anything human without imperfection?
And, after all, look, we do go forward.
Perhaps the moment has not yet arrived.
Let us not hurry: speed is a dangerous thing.
Untimely measures bring repentance.
Certainly, and unhappily, many things are wrong in the Colony,
But is there anything human without imperfection?
And, after all, look, we do go forward.
Ότι τα πράγματα δεν βαίνουν κατ’ ευχήν στην Aποικία
δεν μέν’ η ελαχίστη αμφιβολία,
και μ’ όλο που οπωσούν τραβούμ’ εμπρός,
ίσως, καθώς νομίζουν ουκ ολίγοι, να έφθασε ο καιρός
να φέρουμε Πολιτικό Aναμορφωτή....
Ίσως δεν έφθασεν ακόμη ο καιρός.
Να μη βιαζόμεθα· είν’ επικίνδυνον πράγμα η βία.
Τα πρόωρα μέτρα φέρνουν μεταμέλεια.
Έχει άτοπα πολλά, βεβαίως και δυστυχώς, η Aποικία.
Όμως υπάρχει τι το ανθρώπινον χωρίς ατέλεια;
Και τέλος πάντων, να, τραβούμ’ εμπρός.
Update: A Colonial Settlement?
“Brexiteers, bring out your black suits of mourning. Grieve with private dignity. The quixotic bid for British independence has failed.
There will be no return to full sovereign and democratic self-rule in March 2019, or after the transition, or as far as the political eye can see. Britain will be bound and hemmed until the latent contradictions of such a colonial settlement cause a volcanic national uprising, as they surely must.
The Westminster class is edging crablike towards a double embrace of the EU single market and the customs union, the full EU package but without a veto in the European Council, or Euro-MPs with heft in the dominant blocs of Strasbourg, or judges on the European Court...”
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