Death stretches forth his hand
and touches the brow of a renowned general.
In the evening a newspaper breaks the news.
The house of the sick man is filled with a great throng.
Pains have paralyzed the limbs and the tongue of that man.
He casts his glance around and for a long time
he fixes his eyes on familiar objects.
Tranquil, he recalls old heroes.
Outwardly-silence and imobility covered him.
Within him-the envy of life, cowardess, voluptuous leprosy,
stupid stubborness, wrath, malice had rotted him.
He groans heavily. He breathed his last.
The voice of each citizen laments.
"His death has devastated our city!
Alas, virtue has died with him!"
Cavafy