Stargaze

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This is the place where, with my friends, I indulge in poetry and dance and dreams.

Join us and share a moment of rapture.

One day I wrote her name

upon the strand

Edmund Spenser

One day I wrote her name upon the strand

but came the waves and washed it away

again I wrote it with a second hand

but came the tide and made my pains his prey

Vain man, said she, that do in vain essay

a mortal thing so to immortalise

for I myself shall like to this decay

and also my name by wiped out likewise

Not so quoth I let baser things devise

to die in the dust, but you shall live by fame

my verse your virtues rare shall eternise

and in the heavens write your glorious name

Where, when death shall all the world subdue

our love shall live, and later life renew

ITHACA
C. P. Cavafy
When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the angry Poseidon, do not fear them: You will never find such as these on your path, if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine emotion touches your spirit and your body. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your soul does not set them up before you. Pray that the road is long. That the summer mornings are many, when, with such pleasure, with such joy you will enter ports seen for the first time; stop at Phoenician markets, and purchase fine merchandise, mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensual perfumes of all kinds, as many sensual perfumes as you can; visit many Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from scholars. Always keep Ithaca 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 many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all 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 have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

Carpe diem

Horace (Odes 1.11).

$\"Musei$

Tu ne quaesiris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi,

finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios

temptaris numeros. Ut melios, quicquid erit, pati!

Seu plures hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,

quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenium:

sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi

spem longam reseces. Dum luquimur, fugerit invida

aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

Non indagare, è dannoso sapere quale fine a me e a te gli dei avranno dato, o Leuconoe, né tenterai i calcoli babilonesi. Quanto è meglio sopportare qualsiasi cosa che accadrà. Sia che Giove ci abbia donato molti inverni ancora, sia che sia l’ultimo quello che ora sugli opposti scogli affatica il mar Tirreno, gusta e filtra i vini, e poiché la vita è breve, rinuncia alle speranze lontane. Intanto che parliamo fugge il tempo invidioso, cogli l’attimo fuggente il meno possibile fiduciosa nel domani.

Leuconoe, don\'t ask--it\'s forbidden to know-- what end the gods will give me or you. Don\'t play with Babylonian fortune-telling either. Better just deal with whatever comes your way. Whether you\'ll see several more winters or whether the last one Juppiter gives you is the one even now pelting the rocks on the shore with the waves of the Tyrrhenian sea--be smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long hopes to a short period. Even as we speak, envious time is running away from us. Seize the day (Carpe diem), and trust as little as possible in the future.