"Waiting for the Barbarians" is a Greek poem by Constantine P. Cavafy.
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History
The poem was written in November 1898 and first published in 1904. It depicts a day in an unnamed city-state where everything has come to a halt because the population is awaiting the arrival of "the barbarians", whom they plan to welcome.
Daniel Mendelsohn (one of many translators who has produced an English version of "Waiting") has said that the poem's portrayal of a state whose lawmakers sit in stagnant idleness was "particularly prescient" in light of the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.
Robert Pinsky has described it as "cunning" and "amusing". Charles Simić has called it "an apt description of any state that needs enemies, real or imaginary, as a perpetual excuse", while the Independent considered the poem's final line evocative of "the dangers implied by the end of the Cold War".
Homages
J. M. Coetzee's 1980 novel Waiting for the Barbarians is named for the poem, as are Waiting for the Barbarians, the 1998 essay collection by Lewis H. Lapham and Waiting for the Barbarians, the 2013 essay collection by Daniel Mendelsohn.
Peter Carey's 1981 novel Bliss sees Lucy's young Communist boyfriend Kenneth quoting the first stanza directly from John Mavrogordato's translation.
Await Barbarians, the 2014 album by Alexis Taylor, is also named for the poem; similarly, that album's song "Without a Crutch" alludes directly to the poem.
In 2011, Andrew Ford adapted the poem into a choral work. In 2012, Constantine Koukias adapted it into an opera, "The Barbarians".