Song from Timaeus

A song from Timaeus, 2300 years later

All that is

lives,

the world, its creatures,

Time,

the fixed and the wandering stars.

The Master Builder

caught fire

in the light of his mind

and wove earth’s Form

on the loom of gravity.

The beloved elements

swore their vows

before him,

a consecration of air and water,

quaternal matrimony.

From their union was born

The Cosmos,

the soul of all that moves,

and everything at rest,

though nothing is at rest.

Our spherical soul

contains the will

of the Demiurge,

but not, alas, his highest

perfection.

Condemned to roam,

thoughtful Cosmos

reflects eternity, but passes by.

This contemplation

we call Time.

We and all the wandering stars

bear its curse,

for all created beings,

born in restless motion,

with all our borrowed beauty,

must die.