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July 20, 2006

"Ease Your Feet Into the Sea"

I headed out to the beach this past Monday, book, SPF 30 sunscreen and shades in tow. Upon finding the best spot for soaking up some sun, I cracked open my current read, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, written by Thomas Cahill, and stumbled upon the following extract from Constantine Cavafy's Ithaca:

Hope the way is long.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, with what joy,
you shall enter first-seen harbors...
Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what has been ordained for you.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts many years;
and you dock an old man on the island,
rich with all that you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to give you wealth.

Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing more to give you.

We often forget to enjoy the mysterious road of life, which unwinds itself everyday. We never know who or what we will encounter on any given day; some days the way is smooth, other times, riddled with potholes and traffic jams. We forget about the present, never realizing that the true destination is the journey itself, not so much that far off place in our mind's eye.

Posted by eva on 10:28 AM