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Alexei Navalny - a poem

Spoken by Vincent Guy



You may have heard of Heraklitos the philosopher who said “You can’t enter the same river twice”. This poem was a tribute by Kallimachos of Alexandria to a later Heraklitos, a poet from Caria in Anatolia. “Pleasant voices” and “nightingales” both refer to his verses. I learned this version, a loose translation by the Victorian schoolteacher William Cory, when I was about 15. Now, at 80, it’s the only poem I still  know by heart. I dedicate this recording to Alexei Navalny; news of his death made me weep.


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