Che Fece . . . Il Gran Rifiuto

by C. P. Cavafy

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.

From C. P. Cavafy: Collected Poems (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1975), translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard, edited by George Savidis (this poem, translated by Edmund Keeley, may be called “What He Did . . . The Great Refusal” in English). I think of Dag Hammarskjöld who, in his book Markings, emphasized the importance of saying yes to life, a daily choice I’ve long lived by. See also “Yes” by William Stafford.       +       +