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The Great Yes By Constantine P. Cavafy for National Poetry Month
Massive stress means I'm getting this one in just before the end of the day...
The Great Yes By Constantine P. Cavafy
English version by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard
For some people the day comes
when they have to declare the great Yes
or the great No. It’s clear at once who has the Yes
ready within him; and saying it,
he goes from honor to honor, strong in his conviction.
He who refuses does not repent. Asked again,
he’d still say no. Yet that no--the right no--
drags him down all his life.
English version by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard
For some people the day comes
when they have to declare the great Yes
or the great No. It’s clear at once who has the Yes
ready within him; and saying it,
he goes from honor to honor, strong in his conviction.
He who refuses does not repent. Asked again,
he’d still say no. Yet that no--the right no--
drags him down all his life.