Ithaka
BY C. P. CAVAFYhope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, 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, 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 your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing 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 learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing 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 learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't 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’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
"Hope your road is a long one ...." These words struck me today, heading as I am to a new place and a new life. It wasn't so long ago, maybe six months or so, that I found myself thinking just the opposite, that I was tired and done, that if my heart took me again to the edge, I might cross over, wanted to. The thing was, it didn't scare me, this waiting for death. 300,000 dollars plus to fix my heart, months spent recovering, a second chance, and I wasn't grateful, I wasn't hopeful, I wasn't happy. I wanted to lie fallow; I wanted my end to be a great nothingness, and I wanted to find my way there sooner as opposed to later.
Today, fallow is the farthest thing from my mind. I've been fallow for too long and I am ready to bloom. I want my road to be a long one. I want to wise, so full of experiences I will at last have understood what all my Ithakas meant, all thanks to this one Ithaka which has done what I thought impossible - made me want to live. I leave this afternoon for the Virgin Islands. When I head there again, it will be for discovery, for wandering, home everywhere because I'm at last at home in myself. I at last have faith in the basic kindness of life. It wants us happy although like any good parent, it guides us as best it can and then lets us find our own way, there when we need it, even when we think we've been completely abandoned, when we think there is nothing ahead, when we dream of fallow instead of bloom.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
"Hope your road is a long one ...." These words struck me today, heading as I am to a new place and a new life. It wasn't so long ago, maybe six months or so, that I found myself thinking just the opposite, that I was tired and done, that if my heart took me again to the edge, I might cross over, wanted to. The thing was, it didn't scare me, this waiting for death. 300,000 dollars plus to fix my heart, months spent recovering, a second chance, and I wasn't grateful, I wasn't hopeful, I wasn't happy. I wanted to lie fallow; I wanted my end to be a great nothingness, and I wanted to find my way there sooner as opposed to later.
Today, fallow is the farthest thing from my mind. I've been fallow for too long and I am ready to bloom. I want my road to be a long one. I want to wise, so full of experiences I will at last have understood what all my Ithakas meant, all thanks to this one Ithaka which has done what I thought impossible - made me want to live. I leave this afternoon for the Virgin Islands. When I head there again, it will be for discovery, for wandering, home everywhere because I'm at last at home in myself. I at last have faith in the basic kindness of life. It wants us happy although like any good parent, it guides us as best it can and then lets us find our own way, there when we need it, even when we think we've been completely abandoned, when we think there is nothing ahead, when we dream of fallow instead of bloom.
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