Day 00. A journey, a story

Stories of a journey and a struggle are frequently the corner stone on which cultures and civilisations are built.

The Illiad and the Odissey are stories of a battle and a journey which can be seen as the pillars supporting the abode of ancient Greece...

Homer tells in the Odissey the story of Oddysseus long journey back home to Ithaka after the war of Troy.

Odiseus journey can be seen as a metaphor to the journey of our lives and the stories we tell ourselves about our goals and dreams.

I copy below two poems by the Greek Poet C.P. Cavafy:
Ithaka and an Old Man.

Ithaka
BY C. P. CAVAFY
TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, 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, 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 your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing 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 learn and go on learning from their scholars. 

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. 

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't 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’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

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One may decide to go to Ithaka, or one may prefer to stay in the safety of home with no Ithakas in the horizon...
Below Cavafy describes a man who chose safety and predictable routine  during his journey through the path of life....

AN OLD MAN
By C.P. Cavafy

Deep inside the noisy cafe,
huddled over the table sits an old man,
with a newspaper in front of him, all alone.

And in the indignity of his miserable old age
he ponders on how little he enjoyed the years
when he had vigour, eloquence , and looks.

He knows that he has aged a lot; he sense s it, he sees it.
And yet the time when he was young seems lik e yesterday.
What a short span of time , what a short span.

And he reflects on how Prudence deceived him;
and how he always trusted her—what folly!—
that liar who used to say: 'Tomorrow. You still have plenty of time.'

He recalls impulse s that he restrained;
and how much joy he sacrificed.
Every lost opportunity now mocks his mindles s wisdom.

...But from too much reflection and reminiscence
the old man become s dizzy. And he falls asleep
leaning upon the table of the cafe.