Too bad that, cut out as you are <br />for grand and noble acts, <br />this unfair fate of yours <br />never offers encouragement, always denies you success; <br />that cheap habits get in your way, <br />pettiness, or indifference. <br />And how terrible the day you give in <br />(the day you let go and give in) <br />and take the road for Susa <br />and go to King Artaxerxes, <br />who, well-disposed, gives you a place at his court <br />and offers you satrapies and things like that— <br />things you don't want at all, <br />though, in despair, you accept them just the same. <br />You long for something else, ache for other things: <br />praise from the Demos and the Sophists, <br />that hard-won, that priceless acclaim— <br />the Agora, the Theatre, the Crowns of Laurel. <br />You can't get any of these from Artaxerxes, <br />you'll never find any of these in the satrapy, <br />and without them, what kind of life will you live?<br /><br />Constantine P. Cavafy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-satrapy-2/