C. P. Cavafy - long time resident of Alexandria.

from Waiting for the Barbarians:

'Why should this uneasiness begin all of a sudden,
And confusion. How serious people's faces have become.
Why are all the streets and squares emptying so quickly,
And everybody turning home again so full of thought?
Because night has fallen and the Barbarians have not come.
And some people have arrived from the frontier;
They said there are no Barbarians any more.

And now what will become of us without Barbarians?-
Those people were some sort of solution'

The Wise of Things at Hand:

'Things that are happening are known by mortals,
And things to come by gods, who are the clear
And only masters of illumination;
Of things to come those that approach the portals
Wise men percieve. Their ear

Sometimes in hours of study most profound
Is troubled; and the starnge noises appear
To come to them of things that near their station;
And they attend devoutly. While no sound
Outside street-people hear.'

Morning Sea:

Here let me stand. Let me look at nature a little.
The sea this morning and the cloudless heaven
Their brilliant blue and yellow beach; and all
Beautiful and flooded in light.

Here let me stand. Let me flatter myself I see all this-
(I really do see it for a moment as I first stood here)-
All this and not here too my own imaginings,
My memories, the apparitions of pleasure.