Ithaca, Illinois
Ithaca, Illinois
I have been working on the poem I posted last Thursday, mostly deleting. For the past couple of days, I’ve only repeatedly added and removed a comma from the line,
Ulysses sips smoke, and plans.
At the moment it is removed.
I am satisfied enough to have added it to the poetry page. The title is as above. The gap between it and its predecessor is an unexpected thirty years.
I am certain about prose, but not poetry.
A few of you have written that you like the poem, which I very much appreciate.
I will not impose it on you again. But if you are interested to see how it has been changed, you can find it on the poetry page and here. I like to believe you will find it improved.
Some of you will know of the Twentieth Century Greek poet Constantine Cavafy’s “Ithaca.”
A collection of Cavafy’s poems was one of the few books I brought back from THE HAWKE OF TUONELA.
My favorite translation is by Rae Delvan.
When you start on your journey to Ithaca,
then pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
Do not fear the Lestrygonians
and the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon.
You will never meet such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your body and your spirit.
You will never meet the Lestrygonians,
the Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not raise them up before you.
Then pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many,
that you will enter ports seen for the first time
with such pleasure, with such joy!
Stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony,
and pleasurable perfumes of all kinds,
buy as many pleasurable perfumes as you can;
visit hosts of Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from those who have knowledge.
Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;
and even to anchor at the isle when you are old,
rich with all that you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.
Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would never have taken the road.
But she has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,
you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.
But I came across an interesting YouTube video of Sean Connery reading the poem slightly differently.
Naturally I prefer “beautiful voyage” to “marvelous journey.”
To your beautiful voyage.
Monday, December 31, 2012