Your Life's Journey

[cairde]

Hola,

Below is a poem titled Ithaca written by C.P Cavafy about 1911 which I often read to keep me grounded and in my zone, when at times the pace and pressures of our daily life can pull much of what we are about out of perspective.

The poem it is said was inspired by the Homeric return journey of Odysseus to his home island, as depicted in the Odyssey. The poem's theme is that the enjoyment of the journey of life, and the increasing maturity of the soul as that journey continues, is all that any traveller can ask for.

I hope it may prove to become a favourite of yours too and along your Camino you will find your Ithaca.

Buen Camino



As you set out on the way to Ithaca
hope that the road is a long one,
filled with adventures, filled with understanding.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
Poseidon in his anger,
Do not fear them,
you’ll never come across them on your way
as long as your mind stays aloft, and a choice
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
savage Poseidon;
You’ll not encounter them
unless you carry them within your soul,
unless your soul sets them up before you.

Hope that the road is a long one.
Many may the summer mornings be
when—with what pleasure, with what joy—
you first put in to harbors new to your eyes;
may you stop at Phoenician trading posts
and there acquire fine goods:
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and heady perfumes of every kind:
as many heady perfumes as you can.
To many Egyptian cities may you go
so you may learn, and go on learning, from their sages.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind;
to reach her is your destiny.
But do not rush your journey in the least.
Better that it last for many years;
that you drop anchor at the island an old man,
rich with all you’ve gotten on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca gave to you the beautiful journey;
without her you’d not have set upon the road.
But she has nothing left to give you any more.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca did not deceive you.
As wise as you’ll have become, with so much experience,
you’ll have understood, by then, what these Ithacas mean.

C. P. Cavafy

[Douglas]

Cavafy seems clumsy in English translation, but still there is some magic spell in it. I love his poem about coping with loss:

The god forsakes Antony

When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don?t mourn your luck that?s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive?don?t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don?t fool yourself, don?t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don?t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who were given this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen?your final delectation?to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.

- Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)