As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a protracted one,
stuffed with journey, stuffed with discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
indignant Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll by no means discover issues like that in your approach
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 a protracted one.
Could there be many a summer season morning when,
with what pleasure, what pleasure,
you come into harbors seen for the primary time;
could you cease at Phoenician buying and selling stations
to purchase high-quality issues,
mom of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual fragrance of each variety—
as many sensual perfumes as you may;
and will you go to many Egyptian cities
to assemble shops of information from their students.
Maintain Ithaka at all times in your thoughts.
Arriving there’s what you’re destined for.
However don’t hurry the journey in any respect.
Higher if it lasts for years,
so you’re previous by the point you attain the island,
rich with all you’ve gained on the way in which,
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 offer you now.
And in the event you discover her poor, Ithaka gained’t have fooled you.
Clever as you’ll have develop into, so stuffed with expertise,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas imply.
C.P. Cavafy, 1911
