When you embark on your journey to Ithaca

asks that the road be a long one,

full of adventures, full of experiences.

Fear neither Lestrygonians nor Cyclopses

nor the choleric Poseidon,

such beings you will never find on your way,

if your thinking is high, if you select

is the emotion that touches your spirit and your body.

Neither to the Lestrygonians nor to the Cyclopses

nor the wild Poseidon will you find,

if you don't carry them in your soul,

if your soul does not lift them up before you.

Ask for the road to be long.

May summer mornings be many

you arrive - with what pleasure and joy!

to ports never seen before.

Stop at the emporiums of Phoenicia

and get your hands on beautiful goods,

mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony

and all sorts of sensual perfumes,

the more abundant sensual perfumes you can.

Go to many Egyptian cities

to learn, to learn from their wise men.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.

Getting there is your destination.

But never rush the journey.

It had better last for many years

and dock, old now, on the island,

enriched by how much you gained along the way

without waiting for Ithaca to enrich you.

Ithaca gave you such a beautiful journey.

Without it you would not have set out on the road.

But it no longer has anything to give you.

Even if you find it poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.

So, wise as you have become, with so much experience,

you will understand what the Itacas mean.