ITHAKA by C.P. Cavafy: Poem read Thursday, April 30th

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
fulll of adventure, fullof discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon--
don't be afraid of them;
you'll never find thing like that along your way
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and 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 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 perfumes 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 are destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it last for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all that you've gained along 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'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.