ITHACA

 Ithaca, written by Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis.
Although Ithaca here is the Greek city visited by Odysseus , but for me Ithaca is that fingerlake city I visited in Upstate NY and where I lived for 3 months. Ithaca holds for me deep memories, sweet encounters and a great  experience that changed my whole life... It was the linchpin that made me decide about many things.

    ITHACA

As you set out for Ithaca
hope 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 harbours 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 Ithaca 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 Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca 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, Ithaca won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

and this is the meaning of Ithaca.

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