As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is an extended one,
filled with journey, filled with discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
offended Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll by no means discover issues like that in your manner
so long as you retain your ideas raised excessive,
so long as a uncommon pleasure
stirs your spirit and your physique.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you gained’t encounter them
until you convey them alongside inside your soul,
until your soul units them up in entrance of you.
Hope the voyage is an extended one.
Could there be many a summer season morning when,
with what pleasure, what pleasure,
you come into harbors seen for the primary time;
might you cease at Phoenician buying and selling stations
to purchase effective issues,
mom of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual fragrance of each sort—
as many sensual perfumes as you possibly can;
and will you go to many Egyptian cities
to collect shops of data from their students.
Hold Ithaka all the time in your thoughts.
Arriving there’s what you might be destined for.
However don’t hurry the journey in any respect.
Higher if it lasts for years,
so you might be previous by the point you attain the island,
rich with all you’ve got gained on the best way,
not anticipating Ithaka to make you wealthy.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
With out her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to present you now.
And in the event you discover her poor, Ithaka gained’t have fooled you.
Sensible as you should have develop into, so filled with expertise,
you should have understood by then what these Ithakas imply.
C.P. Cavafy, 1911
