“A service of thanksgiving for the life of King Constantine of the Hellenes was held on Tuesday February 27, 2024, at 11am in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.” (The Times)
There was a good turn-out of British and foreign royals. The latter included most of King Constantine’s five children and nine grandchildren, augmented by royals from other countries without a monarchy like Serbia, and Germany.
Princess Theodora, Prince Nikolaos, Princess Alexía and Prince Philippos of Greece shared the first Reading, Ithaka by Constantine P Cavafy. Knowing nothing of this distinguished and modest Greek poet I have ordered a Penguin edition of his selected poems. Ithaka is an apt choice for a memorial service, echoing Homer.
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
It would be an appropriate reading at Lord Rothschild’s memorial service too. Good poetry is best read aloud.
Thank you for the introduction to Cavafy. Until today the only thing I knew about him was that, in common with William Shakespeare, he died on his birthday
A considerable poet (see, for example, his poem “the afternoon sun” about the place where he had a love affair) and who is referred to in the background of Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet” to which I think you have referred previously.