c. p. cavafy

Ithaca

When you set out on the journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road be long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
the raging Poseidon do not fear:
you'll never find the likes
of these on your way,
if lofty be your thoughts, if rare emotion
touches your spirit and your body.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
the fierce Poseidon you'll not encounter,
unless you carry them within your soul,
unless your soul raises them before you.

Pray that the road be long;
that there be many a summer morning,
when with what delight, what joy
you'll enter into harbours yet unseen;
that you may stop at Phoenician emporia,
and acquire all the fine wares,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
as many sensuous perfumes as you can;
that you may visit many an Egyptian city,
to learn and learn again from lettered men.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your final destination.
But do not rush the voyage in the least.
Better it last for many years;
and once you're old. cast anchor on the isle,
rich with all you have gained along the way,
expecting not that Ithaca will give you wealth.

Ithaca gave you the wondrous voyage.
Without her you'd never have set out.
But she has nothing to give you any more.

If then you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
As wise as you've become, with such experience by now,
you will have come to know what these Ithacas mean.

trans evangelos sachperoglou

off out in the kayak and on the bike this weekend so, as i'm still reading cavafy, ithaca seemed a natural choice. there's another translation here and if you're really a glutton for punishment sean connery reads it here. or in greek, here

c. p. cavafy

Voices

Ideal and dearly beloved voices
of those who are dead
or of those who are lost to us like the dead.

Sometimes they speak to us in our dreams;
sometimes in thought the mind hears them.

And for a moment with their echo
other echos return from the first poetry of our lives-
like music that extinguishes the far off night.


trans unknown

cavafy

Come Back

Come back and take hold of me,
sensation that I love, come back and take hold of me -
when the body's memory revives
and an old longing again passes throught the blood,
when lips and skin remember
and hands feel as though they touch again.

Come back often, take hold of me in the night
when lips and skin remember...

trans unknown