kikalena's VirtualTourist Home Page

In the mountains I love getting up early in the morning and climbing up a mountain top to see how a new day breaks. Is there anything in the world more beautiful to observe.... ?:)

this is the poem I came across recently (in a book "Journey to Ithaca"by Anita Deasai, an Indian novelist whose work I admire a lot).

Then pray that the journey 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 Egiptian 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 don not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;
and even to anchor the isle when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you a beautiful voyage.
Without her you would never have taken the road.
But she has nothing to give you now.

And if you have found her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With such great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,
you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

C.P. Cavafy "Ithaca" (translated by Rae Dalven)