Lucretian Poems

The Fragile Inheritance of Ideas

For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, 

so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared 

than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true.

 - Lucretius, On the Nature of Things

When paper crumbles into dust 

We discover what humans must

Believe and hold closely, tightly,

Knowing that these ideas will ever brightly

shine as a beacon for the ages.

When the thoughts of genius slowly fade

Into the long night of disorder, what made

Our world dark?  Who is to blame for the long

Ride into chaotic ignorance?  No song

Of innocence will end our human rages.

When the genius of a few raises the hope

Of the many, their light exceeds the scope

Of humanity's dreams.  This is exciting news

For those who dream of knowledge they can use.

The ideas of dreamers last for the ages.

- James Henderson, September, 2011 

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Time

"See you not that even stones are conquered by time." 

- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things

This fright, this night of mindless time

Will lead us on to endless flux,

When we see in nature solid rocks

Succumb to inevitable decay.

This lack of care, this unconcern, may

Seem to be unreal, but demonstration

Of nature's power, it is ruthless

Relentless motion at play.

This place, this fixed universe weights

Time and brings its flow

To a halt. We humans move onward

Making our own different way.

- James Henderson, February 1992 (rev. 2009)