《伊萨卡岛》康斯坦丁·卡瓦菲斯

《伊萨卡岛》康斯坦丁·卡瓦菲斯
当你启程前往伊萨卡 但愿你的道路漫长，
充满奇迹，充满发现。
莱斯特律戈涅斯巨人，独眼巨人， 愤怒的波塞冬海神——不要怕他们,
你将不会在途中碰到诸如此类的怪物，
只要你高扬你的思想……
但愿你的道路漫长。
但愿那里有很多夏天的早晨，
当你无比快乐和兴奋地
进入你第一次见到的海港：
但愿你在腓尼基人的贸易市场停步 购买精美的物件，
珍珠母和珊瑚，琥珀和黑檀， 各式各样销魂的香水
你要多销魂就有多销魂：
愿你走访众多埃及城市
向那些有识之士讨教并继续讨教。
让伊萨卡常在你心中，
抵达那里是你此行的目的。
但路上不要过于匆促，
最好多延长几年，
那时当你上得了岛你也就老了，
一路所得已经教你富甲四方，
用不着伊萨卡来让你财源滚滚。
用伊萨卡赋予你如此神奇的旅行，
没有它你可不会启程前来。
现在它再也没有什么可以给你的了。
而如果你发现它原来是这么穷，
那可不是伊萨卡想愚弄你。
既然那时你已经变得很聪慧，
并且见多识广，
你也就不会不明白，
这些伊萨卡意味着什么。
“Ithaca”
Ithaka
by Constantine P. Cavafy
As you set out for Ithaka
hope the journey 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 pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbours 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 marvellous 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.