Aimilianos Monai, Alexandrian, A.D. 628-655
Out of talk, appearance, and manners
I will make an excellent suit of armor;
and in this way I will face malicious people
without feeling the slightest fear or weakness.
They will try to injure me. But of those
who come near me none will know
where to find my wounds, my vulnerable places,
under the deceptions that will cover me.
So boasted Aimilianos Monai.
One wonders if he ever made that suit of armor.
In any case, he did not wear it long.
At the age of twenty-seven, he died in Sicily.
Reprinted from C. P. CAVAFY: Collected Poems Revised Edition, translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard, edited by George Savvidis. Translation copyright © 1975, 1992 by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Princeton University Press. For reuse of these translations, please contact Princeton University Press.
Translations in other languages
Con mi verbo, mi planta y buenos modales
una exquisita armadura he de procurarme,
plantar cara así a la mala gente
sin tener miedo ni flaqueza.
Querrán perjudicarme. Mas nadie,
de cuantos se me acerquen, sabrá
dónde se hallan mis heridas, mi punto débil,
bajo las mentiras en que me escudaré.
Palabras jactanciosas de Emiliano Monaes.
¿Forjó acaso alguna vez esta armadura?
No la llevó mucho desde luego.
Murió con veintisiete años en Sicilia.
Cavafis, C. (2023). Ciento cincuenta y cuatro poemas (P. Bádenas de la Peña, traducción e introducción). UMA Editorial.
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