a poem by Cavafy

Ionian

Just because we've torn their statues down,
and cast them from their temples,
doesn't for a moment mean the gods are dead.
Land of Ionia, they love you yet,

their spirits still remember you.
When an August morning breaks upon you
a vigour from their lives stabs through your air;
and sometimes an ethereal and youthful form
in swiftest passage, indistinct,

passes up above your hills.

Constantine P Cavafy (April 29, 1863–April 29,1933)

Greek poet, published only about 200 privately printed poems.
Cavafy has come in recent years to be regarded as a the greatest Mediterranean poet of modern times.