Ithaka by Constantine P Cavafy

Robert Louis Stevenson said 'to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour'. 

It's a bit grim when you see the whole quotation, isn't it?

Luckily Constantine P Cavafy, in his short poem Ithaka (or Ithaca, if you like: I know it rouses strong passions either way), has a richer take on the idea of travel.

You can read the whole text HERE (and I do recommend it) but here is one stanza, translated from the original Greek by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.

Hope the voyage is a long one,
May there be a summer morning when,
With what pleasure, 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.

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Oh, the delicate glory of that shower of blessings! 

May they fall around you, too.

Word To Use Today: voyage. This word comes from the Old French veiage, from the Latin viāticum, food for travelling, from via, road.