Dear Reader,
Recently I reread a poem entitled “Ithaca” by the Greek writer P.J. Cavafy. He writes about traveling to the island of Ithaca which was made famous by Homer’s Odyssey. He describes the journey as something magical, something that conjures up adventures beyond the body… perhaps to the soul.
“…Hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
“…Hope your road is a long one,
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you are entering harbors you are seeing for the first time;
… But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better that it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.
Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
…Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you’ll have understood by
then what these Ithacas mean.”
The message is the importance of the journey over the destination. We don’t normally see it that way because we are always striving apart from the day at hand, looking beyond the corners to where we are headed. Perhaps we need to pause and ponder the here, here, not the there, over there.
PATRICK J. WOOD
Publisher
Author of “Reflections” a new book now available on Amazon.