Che fece … il gran rifiuto

Translated by Edmund Keeley & 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

Notes:

Written July 1899.

Published August 31, 1901.

The metrical pattern of each stanza is 13-15-15-15 syllables,

rhymed abba and cddc.

The title is borrowed from Dante's Inferno, iii, 60, and means 

"Who made . . . the great refusal."  Cavafy deliberately omitted 

the words "per vilta"' (i.e., "because of cowardice")