Ode to Lucretius

This is an ode to a poet who created a work that has influenced thinkers over the millennia, guiding societies and ideologies. Titus Lucretius Carus inspired Galileo Galilei, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, Leonardo da Vinci, and many others with his last surviving work, the didactic Epicurean poem On the Nature of Things. Despite the many attempts to suppress the work as heretical , it is still being read today: Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (2011) tracks Lucretius’s influence from his inspiration for creation to the poem’s sociopolitical influence from inception to present. “Lucretius presents the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena.” Lucretius’s philosophy is also said to have inspired C.J. Thomsen to create research categories of artifacts, widely known as the Three Age System: Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. The communication of ethical and societal theory has survived over 2000 years and its ripple effect on civilizations is enormous: widespread and compelling.

Ode to Lucretius (99-55 BCE)             

I have been listening to one of the old masters,
a Roman poet
singing the truths of Epicurus, who tells us
about the way of all things.

Everything comes into existence,
everything goes out of existence:
rocks, trees, seas, mountains, people.
All things are made of atoms.
There is no such thing as eternity.
There is no such thing as certainty.
There are no deities who gave you life.
There is no sacrifice to make.
There is no fate you cannot break.
Death has no claim on you;
banish the fear of the hereafter.
Do not fear the dark of mind.
Tear the mask of fear aside.
The mind is man-made.
Do not give away your freedom.
Let go all the old religious stories.
Set them free.
They do not belong to you.
These are but dreams and scams.

Friendship, service, and civility
light the passageways to a good life.
Discover the world as it is.
Enjoy the morning light;
balance and stability thrive
in a harmonious life.

He is well
who sees himself
at peace in the present.
When you embrace what is,
the tranquility of self is kept alive,
wherein all delight resides.