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I first heard of the poem Ithaka by the Greek poet C. P. Cavafy at the funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  I was moved when I heard it not only because it was used as an elegy, but how meaningful it is to our modern lives.

When someone reads the Odyssey he/she should pay close attention to the symbolic meaning of this poem.  The Odyssey has a much deeper meaning than what it seems to someone that reads it for the first time.  It is not just a story about a fantastic voyage and a guy overcoming some imaginary difficulties and going back home.  In the Greek view it is an inner-self quest for rediscovering who you really are; at the same time it is a celebration of the human nature and the capability of achieving your goals, even if it means that you have to go through the most difficult and unexpected obstacles to reach those goals.

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 leisure, 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.

Make a copy to keep – as I did – as you begin your journey in 2012.

Happy New Year!