Ithaka
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.
~ C.P. Cavafy ~
(Collected Poems, Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)
Iteaca
Agus tú ag triall ar Iteaca
bíodh súil agat le haistear fada,
lán d’eachtraí is d’iontais.
Na Laistraigónaigh is Cioclóp,
Poseidón na feirge – ná lig dóibh eagla a chur ort:
ní bheidh aon ní mar sin sa bhealach romhat
fad is atá na smaointe agat in airde,
agus sceitimíní neamhchoitianta
ar d’anam agus ar do cholainn.
Na Lastraigónaigh is Cioclóp,
Poseidón na feirge – ní thiocfaidh tú orthu
mura dtugann tú leat iad i d’anam istigh,
mura n-ardaíonn d’anam os do chomhair iad.
Bíodh súil agat le haistear fada
is le maidineacha samhraidh
nuair a bhainfidh tú caladh amach den chéad uair –
an pléisiúr, an ríméad
is tú ag stopadh ag stáisiún trádála Féiníceach
chun earraí só a cheannach,
néamhann is coiréal, ómra is éabann,
cumhrán céadfach de gach sórt
an méid cumhrán céadfach agus is féidir;
agus go dtuga tú cuairt ar scata cathracha Éigipteacha
chun stór eolais a bhailiú ó na scoláirí iontu.
Coinnigh Iteaca romhat i gcónaí.
Sé do chinniúint é Iteaca a bhaint amach.
Ach ná bíodh deifir dá laghad ort ar an ród.
B’fhearr dá mairfeadh sé ar feadh blianta
agus go mbeifeá sean sula mbainfeá amach an t-oileán,
saibhreas na slí agat,
gan a bheith ag súil go ndéanfadh Iteaca saibhir thú.
Iteaca faoi ndeara aistear na n-iontas.
Murach í ní bheadh aon aistear ann.
Níl faic anois aici le tabhairt duit.
Agus más dóigh leat í bheith bocht, ní bob atá buailte aici ort.
Lán de ghaois a bheidh tú, lán de thaithí
agus fhios agat go maith faoin am sin cad tá laistiar de na hIteacaí go léir.
