And so we leave.
With Ithaca in our minds and the somewhat worn-out shoes of those who have been on the road for a while already.
We leave to know, we return to tell.
We leave without fears, except those that the heart can take in.
In the hope that the journey will be long, because rich, it already is in the beginning.
When you set out for Ithaca
you must hope the road will be long,
fertile in adventure and experience.
Lestrigons and Cyclopes
or the fury of Neptune, fear not,
this will not be the kind of encounters
if thought remains high and a firm
feeling guides your spirit and body.
In Cyclopes and Lestrigons, no certainly,
nor in the irate Neptune you will run into
if you do not bring them in
if your soul does not set them against you.
You must wish yourself a long road.
May the summer mornings be many
when in the harbors — at last and with what joy —
you will touch land you for the first time:
in the Phoenician emporiums linger and buy
mother-of-pearls corals ebony and ambers
all fine merchandise, even perfumes
penetrating perfumes of all sorts;
as many intoxicating scents as you can,
go to many Egyptian cities
learn a quantity of things from the learned
Always you must have Ithaca in mind –
reaching it be the constant thought.
Above all, do not hurry the journey;
make it last long, for years, and as an old man
set foot on the island, you, rich
of the treasures accumulated on the way
without expecting riches from Ithaca.
Ithaca gave you the good trip,
without her you would never have set
out: what else do you expect?
And if you find it poor, that does not mean that Ithaca will have failed you.
Made wise now, with all your experience on you
already you will have understood what Ithaca means.
ITHACA [Constantino Kavafis, 1911]
