Ithaca by Constantine P. Cavafy

C. P. Cavafy

Ithaca

When you start on your journey to Ithaca,
then pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
Do not fear the Lestrygonians
and the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon.
You will never meet such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your body and your spirit.
You will never meet the Lestrygonians,
the Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not raise them up before you.

Then pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many,
that you will enter ports seen for the first time
with such pleasure, with such joy!
Stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony,
and pleasurable perfumes of all kinds,
buy as many pleasurable perfumes as you can;
visit hosts of Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;
and even to anchor at the isle when you are old,
rich with all that you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would never have taken the road.
But she has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,
you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

~~ Constantine Cavafy

It is always about the journey; a destination is just a new launching point. ~ Ginger Hamilton

The Lute Will Beg

THE LUTE WILL BEG

You need to become a pen

In the Sun´s hand.

We need for the earth to sing

Through our pores and eyes.

The body will again become restless

Until your soul paints all its beauty

Upon the sky.

Don´t tell me, dear ones,

That what Hafiz says is not true,

For when the heart tastes its glorious destiny

And you awake to our constant need

for your love

God´s lute will beg

For your hands.

Hafiz

Guest Poet: Rumi

Photo credit: Ironpaw1

Be a lamp, or a light post, or a ladder.

Help someone's soul heal.

Walk out of your house like a shepherd.

~~ Rumi

Guest Poet: Jack Gilbert

We look up at the stars and they are

not there. We see memory

of when they were, once upon a time.

And that too is more than enough. 

~ Jack Gilbert 

Guest Poet: Rumi

Such encouragement. Such wisdom. What an uplifting man. ~GH

Guest Poet: Pablo Neruda

Guest Poet: Stephen Crane

This is not your feel-good poem. Just so you know . . . ~~GH

In the Desert

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter -- bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

        ~~Stephen Crane

I would not presume to tell you what meaning to make of a poem.  I wandered around the 'net a bit, read some interpretations of  "In the Desert" and even listened/watched two YouTube video readings of it. As usual, the meaning(s) I derive don't match what I saw. 

I won't try to explain what I think it means, but let me say that I don't see this as a scary or intimidating or shocking or negative poem. If I were to read it aloud, I would not use a threatening tone. 

Don't we all "eat our hearts out" sometimes? 

Guest Poet: Robert Frost

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

~~Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of the easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

Guest Poet: Rumi

You are not a drop in the ocean.

You are the entire ocean in a drop.

                                                ~~Rumi

Guest Poet: T.S. Eliot

I do Eliot no favors, using so many of his quotes in one place, expecting you, Dear Reader, to savor and digest such profound thought in vast quantity. For that I am deeply sorry. Just do your best, and let your eye fall on what attracts you. There, you may find your bliss. ~~GH

       Only those who will risk going too far 

can possibly find out how far one can go.

~~T.S.Eliot 

Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough.
                            ~~T.S. Eliot                              

“We die to each other daily. What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. And they have changed since then. To pretend that they and we are the same is a useful and convenient social convention which must sometimes be broken. We must also remember that at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.” 
                                                                  ~~ T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party

[I have such a very real sense of this "death" of which Eliot speaks.~GH]

“I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” 

~~ T.S. Eliot

“What is hell? Hell is oneself. 
Hell is alone, the other figures in it 
Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from 
And nothing to escape to. One is always alone.” 
                         ~~ T.S. Eliot

“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” 

                         ~~T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

“I can connect

Nothing with nothing” 

              ~~T.S. Eliot

“I learn a great deal by merely observing you, and letting you talk as long as you please, and taking note of what you do not say.” ~~T.S. Eliot

“Humor is also a way of saying something serious.” 
~~ T.S. Eliot

“Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?” 

― T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Other Poems

[Ginger's note: Always. Always dare to eat a peach. Or perhaps a nectarine. Some people have an aversion to furry fruit.]

Guest Poet: John Tiong Chunghoo

My friend John Tiong Chunghoo is a professional writer who lives in Malaysia. He makes his living as a writer and also is a wonderful poet. 

Although it is impossible to narrow down the thousands of his haiku and poetry and decide which are "best," this poem plucked at a chord in my soul. So I share it with you.

by John Tiong Chunghoo

i have seen poverty sweat

from dawn till dusk

under the tropical sun

smoothening highways, 

coating multi-storey buildings

"I have seen poverty sweat." Dayum. Rocks me to my core.~~GHC

Guest Poet: Me

Technically, I'm not a Guest Poet but since I so rarely post my own poems . . . 

I look high and low for just the perfect images to accompany each of my entries. If I can't find precisely what I want, I omit the picture. It is important to me to convey and support the language with the imagery. 

I was unable to find imagery that matches the picture in my head for this poem, but I liked the one below so much that I made an exception this time in order to share it with you. Although it does not represent the warmth I envision, I think it is lovely.~~GH

Sunlight on a Pond

I was sunlight on a pond,
Echoed in ripples and shimmers.
Divided into bright, uneven fragments,
Yin met yang.
My brilliance multiplied into protracted flashes of protected colors.
I glimmered and twinkled.

I was sunlight on a pond,
and I was warm.

Bonus Post: Guest Poet Robert Augustus Masters

For full effect, listen to video beginning at 1:40 for this post. I apologize; this is not my favorite version of this tune but it the only version I could find that plays on all platforms. 

 Poetry should not be so much read as imbibed, perhaps after releasing its juices with an unapologetically deep bite or two. No bibs. No napkined abyss. Sit as though you are at a feast, even if the fare is spare, knowing that the tiniest morsel can make the biggest difference.

                                ~~Robert Augustus Masters

For my special friend on this momentous day; you know who you are. I hope you understand.

In grief, the heart is broken in the same way that a stream rushing down through a mountainside forest is broken — it’s still cohesive spiritually, still unified in essence, its elemental dying only strengthening and affirming its fundamental aliveness, its rough-and-tumble course only furthering its dynamic yet utterly vulnerable surrender. 

                                         ~~Robert Augustus Masters

Let the unknown dissolve in a deeper unknown
See more than what is shown
The undoing that we fear is already here
The Mystery of mysteries closer than near
Beyond all familiarity we eventually must go
This we fight and this we know
                     ~~Robert Augustus Masters

Guest Poet: Rumi

I went inside my heart to see how it was.
Something there makes me hear the whole world weeping.~ Rumi

“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.” 
~~ Rumi, The Illuminated Rumi

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~~ Rumi

I want to see you.

Know your voice.

Recognize you when you
first come 'round the corner.

Sense your scent when I come 
into a room you've just left.

Know the lift of your heel,
the glide of your foot.

Become familiar with the way 
you purse your lips
then let them part, 
just the slightest bit,
when I lean in to your space
and kiss you.

I want to know the joy 
of how you whisper 
"more” 
~~ Rumi

“That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful.” ~~Rumi

Guest Poet - Kahlil Gibran on Love (and Cats)

Guest poet today on ChickenScratches: Kahlil Gibran. In case you've never read it, it is not sweet, romantic, positive fare. Gibran acknowledges the very real aspects of sacrifice and submission when it comes to love. We can only hope to achieve full maturity through learning to give ourselves over to love. 

JUST FOR FUN: Like "Fractured Fairy Tales" from "Rocky and Bulwinkle," here is an experiment I dreamed up. Although this verse is profoundly deep and meaningful, I invite you to consider entertaining yourself by replacing love with the word cat throughout. Yeah, I'm weird like that. Enjoy. ~~GHC

Kahlil Gibran on Love 

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.