Can one’s eyes pierce the shroud of time to learn
The message of Atlantis drowned in dust?
Past Hercules’s Pillars thrived man’s lust
For power – now in History’s dark urn,
As baneful greed’s huge domes caused seas to churn…
Devoid of wisdom’s flame and Heaven’s trust,
Atlantis crumbled under Fate’s grim gust,
Its blessings into rubble bound to turn.

Since then, long tides of ages have swept by
And leave as witness ancient ruin’s sand –
Do cranes now make a new Atlantis stand?
The sages’ words still go unheard: “Awry
Goes life when Heaven’s grace is spurned. The land
Shall summon waves to clear man’s clouded eye…”

 

Daniel Magdalen is a graduate student in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Bucharest, in Romania.

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6 Responses

  1. Mahathi

    Very beautifully penned. Perfect meter and rhyme giving a complete lyrical feel.

    Reply
    • Daniel Magdalen

      Thank you. This theme of Atlantis, that I had been thinking of describing, has in and of itself quite a reflexive and lyrical quality to it, as far as I see it.

      Reply
  2. 绿山从 From Green Mountain (Cong Lu Shan)

    i’ve always tried to replicate the experience i had in today’s version of an ancient profession– except today this profession comes equipped with extremes upon extremes. hence the idea of atlantis. combined with the military industrial complex, or just the modern self-annihilation complex. but, just as in atlantis, isn’t it the moral heart that’s at the heart. the heart that cedes it’s calm to evil tidings? be it communism or modern technology. trying to calmly tread the waters of this exciting and hyper-real world gives me more surviving power than any moral doctrine.

    Reply
    • Daniel Magdalen

      It is quite an exciting world, just as you said, and temptations of all sorts engulf people continuously. And, yes, by keeping calm one can think matters through more clearly and adopt a wiser attitude than one who is always carried to and fro by the tides of the myriad wants and desires, which at a closer look, will seem to be rather petty and short-lasting.

      Reply
  3. Michael

    “…As baneful greed’s huge domes caused seas to churn…”

    —beautiful use of words to express the action described.

    Reply
    • Daniel Magdalen

      Thank you, I am glad you like it; the myth itself carries a good deal of narrative imagery which can be successfully transposed into lyrical verse.

      Reply

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