When you set out on the journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road be long,
full of adventures, full of knowledge.

[…]

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your final destination.
But do not rush the voyage in the least.
Better it last for many years;

and once you’re old, cast anchor on the isle,
rich with all you’ve gained along the way,
expecting not that Ithaca will give you wealth.

Ithaca gave you the wondrous voyage:
without her you’d never have set out.
But she has nothing to give you any more. 

If then you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
As wise you’ve become, with such experience, by now
you will have come to know what Ithacas really mean.

Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis
Translated by Evangelos Sachperoglu,
Edited by Anthony Hirst,
(Oxford University Press, 2007).