Let Ithaka be always in your thoughts.
To get there is your goal and destiny.
But do not hasten to your journey’s end:
it’s better if it lasts for many years
so that you'll reach the island when you’re old,
wealthy with all you’ve gained along the way,
not hoping Ithaka will make you rich.
Your marvellous journey is Ithaka’s gift.
Without her you would not have started out.
But she has nothing more to give you now.
And if you find she's poor, you’ve not been fooled.
So wise have you become, so much you’ve learned,
that you will know what Ithakas must be.
Source: Seen in passing on X-Twitter. Holler if you want the whole thing.
Author/Translator: Armand D'Angour, Professor of Classics, Oxford. Cello lover. Larkin about. Turning life into Latin verse, one hexameter at a time. Podcast “It’s All Greek (& Latin!) to Me”.
Posted: Feb 06
Stunning. Thank you.
Jim T
Jim – Thank *you.* I like these reminders of the incredible beauty that’s out there, if only I look.
Who said looking + real attention = seeing the miraculous in everything?
Barbara – I don’t know, but I’m glad you repeated it!
Beautiful! Both the photos and the moments of stillness.
Judith – Thank you. Made all the more precious by the kayaking class coming down the lake . . .
Isabel
Those are spectacular!
Tom
Tom – Many thanks.
There is also a sense of joy in and awe being the first kayak to ruffle that pristine surface, like being the first person to walk out into untrodden snow, or perhaps like Alexander Mackenzie arriving at tidewater in Bella Coola — it’s almost a holy experience (although I have to admit it destroys the possibility of anyone coming along behind you having the same experience).
Jim T
Jim T – Hmm. I enjoy tracking onto a smooth stretch of water, but would prefer to leave it untracked behind me. Too much the photographer, perhaps.