Constantine Petrou Photiades Cavafy (as he wanted the family name to be spelled in English), son of Peter-John Ioannou Cavafy and Charicleia Georgaki Photiades, was born in Alexandria on 
29 April 1863.

Sir Sean Connery
visited my living room this Sunday morning! 
His easily recognizable voice was readying the Ithaca poem by Cavafy, hope you also have enjoyed it!
History Channel has a series of well know Greeks,
- the other day Maria Callas, and today Cavafy, 
a poet I did not know much about!

From Athens News;
"For a poet who lived much of his life (1863-1933) in the imperial backwater of Alexandria, publishing his work in dribs and drabs, Constantine Cavafy has exerted an astonishing influence upon modern literature virtually everywhere. His uncanny integration of personal and historical subjects, his quiet skepticism and piercingly ironic wisdom somehow come across even to those who cannot read the original Greek."

"An Old Man
At the noisy end of the café, head bent
over the table, an old man sits alone,
a newspaper in front of him.
 
And in the miserable banality of old age
he thinks how little he enjoyed the years
when he had strength, eloquence, and looks.
 
He knows he’s aged a lot: he sees it, feels it.
Yet it seems he was young just yesterday.
So brief an interval, so very brief.
 
And he thinks of Prudence, how it fooled him,
how he always believed—what madness—
that cheat who said: “Tomorrow. You have plenty of time.”
 
He remembers impulses bridled, the joy
he sacrificed. Every chance he lost
now mocks his senseless caution.
 
But so much thinking, so much remembering
makes the old man dizzy. He falls asleep,
his head resting on the café table."

Skopelitissa thinks that it is very important that you 
live for today, and makes the best out of it!
We are all growing old, - so live it!

Norsk; Sir Sean Connery
har vært i min stue denne søndags morgenen! Hans lett gjennkjennende stemme leste diktet Ithaka av den gresk-egyptiske poeten Cavafy. Aldeles nydelig. (Jeg er meget svak for Sean, husker første gang jeg "møtte" ham på Rosenborg kino, i Oslo,
James Bond - sammen med mor og Momo ((mormor)) -
vi var alle tre helt i hans makt!)

Fra Den Norske Instituttet i Athen;

"Den nygreske litteraturen har særlig markert seg innen poesien. Blant de mest kjente er diasporadikteren Konstantinos Kavafis 1863-1933 (C.P. Cavafy), som levde mesteparten av sitt liv i Aleksandria, nobelpristakerne Giorgos Seferis (1963) og Odysseas Elytis (1979), og Jannis Ritsos." 

h diaspora - spredning
oi EllhneV thV DiasporaV - grekere i spredning

Hellas er jo mye mer enn Skopelos, men det fine med Internet er at man kan studere Hellas og resten av verden fra sin egen stue!
Jeg fant svært lite om Cavafys på norsk, men det er en masse 
av hans dikt oversatt til engelsk.
Diktet om den gamle mannen her oppe, fenget meg også,
det er jo ingen tvil; Vi blir alle eldre!
Så ta en titt på noen av linkene her oppe!

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