Ithaka, a poem about the journey

The Odyssey. Image from http://keanxchange.com/sites/default/files/pr/odyssey1.gif

BY C. P. CAVAFY, 1911

TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY AND PHILIP SHERRARD

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, 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, 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 your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you’re seeing 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 learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't 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’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Source:   http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181782#poem

:( Leaving the nest ... A post with a lot of I(s)

Seattle Sunset - Google images

I am pretty sure no one will get to read this, but I feel a little nostalgic over not being able to be a teacher for a while.

I recently made a decision to leave Colombia to follow my heart, and although it feels right and I am very happy,  there is this one piece of me that is forever staying in my native land.

I miss the sweet smell of coffee and guava trees at the university, six days a week for over six years I got to know the old trunk of a tree where I sat with my friends and told each other stories. I shared a million smiles and a few tears. I saw children become teenagers and teenagers become adults. I even saw people become  bilingual.

EAFIT taught me to be a teacher, a student, to love, to listen. I always knew it was a great place to work, but now that I look back to it I think it was THE BEST place for many things.

I became a woman there, but I also learned to embrace my inner child instead of just letting it go, like other professions or other paths require it sometimes.

I am forever grateful for each one of you and for every lesson that my life as a teacher has provided.

:)