Although this was Cavafy's Ithaka, after reading his poem it becomes obvious that Ithaka...all of our Ithakas...dwell within.
We carry Ithaka inside. All of us. Mine may look nothing like yours, and that is okay.
It is better than okay. It is perfect.
I first heard Cavafy's Ithaka in 1994.
It was recited at the funeral of former First Lady:
Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis.
She was dead, and I was 34. It made an impression. I was reintroduced to it by an author I particularly like, Sarah Ban Breathnatch, in 2000.
At 40, I think I finally absorbed its message. I have carried the copy, clipped out of her book Simple Abundance everyday since, in my wallet.
Here is the poem.
Ithaka
by C.P Cavafy
As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and 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 and 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 the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen 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 gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on 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 will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
Or listen to it recited by Sean Connery
https://youtu.be/1n3n2Ox4Yfk
Funny thing, time. I'm 56, now. I have long since discovered/lived/continue to live, the meaning behind Cavafy's prose. A friend (now deceased), Loran, summed it up best when he said
"I am going to make the REST of my LIFE the BEST of my LIFE" and
"Today is going to be The Best Day of my LIFE"
And he lived that way, everyday.
He didn't waste a minute of his time.
(which turned out to be way too short)
He truly lived.
So do I.
Maybe we'll make an unscheduled stop at Cavafy's Ithaka, soon...just to look around.
More Anon...
