As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
C.P. Cavafy
even in english it is still beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteIs this a greek poem?
ReplyDeletewell yeah written by C.P.Cavafy....its like 100 years old, but it is still marvelous isnt it? And so helpful these days...
ReplyDeletehelpful? why? It's awesome! I would like to read some more of his poems. any suggestions? I know Ithaka from Odyssey. have read Odyssey and Iliad, big fan of ancient greek culture.
ReplyDeletewell you know globalization and bull#$#% , so ppl are traveling a lot searching for their promised land...so it is helpful indeed - with the wisdom gained you obtain peace of mind in the end... Hmm i suppoz that you would like Thermopylae also - another poem from cavafy(brilliant in my opinion)...here are all his poems.. check 'em out http://www.cavafy.com/poems/list.asp?cat=1
ReplyDeletethanks Constantine (omg! what a big name!!!) globalization? isn't that supposed to be a good thing? especially for small countries like Greece? anyway, I will read the poems and come back for further discussion, cheers!
ReplyDeleteIn a dream world globalization would be good...to bring nations together and to forget the stupid things that ''separate'' us...but no, this kind of globalization = the globalization of free market is not good at all... and believe me for small countries like mine is the worst cause our history and our values are the only things that we have...if we lose these , the game is over we ll be another piece of Their machine...look where globaliztion has brought the world to...highway to hell! cheers! :)
ReplyDeleteto you consider it as wise to be isolated from the world, or what?
ReplyDeleteOf course not...it depends on which are side are you watching the facts from...if globalization means, sharing values, sharing the human spitit, sharing peace and progress united, of course its an utopia- a paradise if u will... Unfortunatelly Globalization now mean , sharing profits for the huge companies, sharing frauds from the Big Banks, sharing taxes from all the goverments and ZERO gain for the people.... i refer you to http://constantthinkin.blogspot.com/2010/10/on-globilization-and.html
ReplyDeleteand to numerous documentaries that show pretty nicely how their globalization works... Have a nice day!