Panta Rhei

To forget the law of constant change Is like swimming against the tide All passes, nothing remains Yet our identity fictions abide Here we're unable to move Drowned in a maelstrom of pretense Here Zeno's turtle proves That stillness is not a lasting defense Although we've set an internal order To which we try to subdue others Our Parcae are still blind And they claim no sire but the endless night Far upstream, the source takes shape In a dream or an escape Sometimes a narrow, meandering maze Finally widening to embrace The horizon as a whole Calm and warmed by the sun's gleam Then turning to a rushing stream Ending in a waterfall We see attributes and their exact inverse Rivers are called by many names Even if their natures seem to be diverse Water remains to stay the same Gently, but without a moment's respite Drawn by the flow of time Drop by drop, it all becomes a part Of a future fully unknown There's a before to everything But nothing like a beginning Going further onward Is merging more with the great course Soon downstream, in the watershed All the rivers will coalesce Sometimes a narrow, meandering maze Finally widening to embrace The horizon as a whole Calm and warmed by the sun's gleam Then turning to a rushing stream Ending in a waterfall