After Ithaka

I hope the author of this poem will not be upset at my publishing it here.
It has been the greatest gift he could have possibly given me and I could not think about moving forward, once my three-week-dream has ended, without this that has read into me.

Thank you my dearest friend: Indeed you showed me the most excellent way.


After Ithaka (For H)

Whn setting out upon your way to London,
Wish always that your stay be long,
Full of adventure, full of lore.
Of dangerous bookshelves, freezing bedrooms,
Of strange English bathrooms never be afraid;
Such things along your way will not disturb,
If lofty is your thinking, if fine sentiment
In spirit and in body touches you.
Not dangerous bookshelves, nor freezing bedrooms,
Nor weird English bathrooms will divert you:
Let your soul accomodate with equanimity
mad British men and curious British customs.

Wish always that your stay be long;
That many there be of London days
When with such pleasure, such great joy,
You enter libraries for the first time seen;
Find exhibition halls and great theatres,
Wondrous Pre-Raphaelites in diverse galleries;
Wish that you may stop at fine bookstores,
To purchase there the best volumes,
Szymborska, Wallace Stevens, and Rossetti,
And hedonic poems of all sorts -
As many hedonic poems as you can;
Wish that you may go to various British towns
To learn, and learn from those schooled there.

Your mind should ever be London.
Your being there is your prime goal.
And do not rush your visits anywise.
Better hat they should last for many years,
and that, when old, you look on London still,
A woman enriched by all your many visits,
And still expecting London to give you further wealth.

For London has given you the inspiration.
Without her you would not have set your course.

There is still more that she can give.
(Should London ever seem too lean, you have then been deceived.)

And wise as you are now become, of such experience,
You wil have understood what London offers.

A. Mann
20.IV.2006