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Edited on Wed Mar-26-08 01:04 PM by roughsatori
Yes he will!!! Please read to the last line before commenting.
"Waiting for the Barbarians"
– What are we waiting for, assembled in the Forum?
The barbarians are to arrive today.
– Why then such inactivity in the Senate? Why do the Senators sit back and do not legislate? Because the barbarians will arrive today. What sort of laws now can Senators enact? When the barbarians come, they’ll do the legislating.
– Why is our emperor up and about so early, and seated at the grandest gate of our city, upon the throne, in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians will arrive today. And the emperor expects to receive their leader. Indeed, he has prepared to present him with a parchment scroll. Thereon he has invested him with many names and titles.
– Why have our two consuls and the praetors come out today in their purple, embroidered togas; why did they put on bracelets studded with amethysts, and rings with resplendent, glittering emeralds; why are they carrying today precious staves carved exquisitely in gold and silver?
Because the barbarians will arrive today and such things dazzle the barbarians.
– And why don’t our worthy orators, as always, come out to deliver their speeches, to have their usual say?
Because the barbarians will arrive today; and they get bored with eloquence and orations.
– Why has there suddenly begun all this commotion, and this confusion? (How solemn people’s faces have become.) Why are the streets and the squares emptying so swiftly, and everyone is returning home in deep preoccupation?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come. And some people have arrived from the frontiers, and said that there are no barbarians anymore.
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And now, what will become of us without barbarians? Those people were some sort of a solution.
C.P. Cavafy Nov. 1898 Translated by Evangelos Sachperoglou
A relevant quote by Charles Simic from the London Review of Books: "‘Waiting for the Barbarians’, is still an apt description of any state that needs enemies, real or imaginary, as a perpetual excuse, the defenders capitulate morally even before the enemy shows up.
Obama and Hilary supporters I would love your responses involving their policies and this poem. I should mentioned that I support Obama; I think this poem is reflective of how our country can change if he becomes President.
If you are a Hillary supporter: I would like your opinions of her policies in relation to this poem. I will vote for her if she wins the nomination.
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