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That we’ve broken their statues,
that we’ve driven them out of their temples,
doesn’t mean at all that the gods are dead.
O land of Ionia, they’re still in love with you,
their souls still keep your memory.
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Ionic
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Variant translation: Because we have broken up their images, because we have expelled them from their fanes, in no wise are they dead for that — the gods. Land of Ionia, it is you they love still — you whose memories still delight their souls.
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Poems by C. P. Cavafy as translated by John Cavafy (2003)

 

Constantine P. Cavafy

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