Whom nor the fame of god nor lightning's stroke
The crossbars at the gates of nature's old

Substance is eternal
This terror, then, this darkness of the mind,
Not sunrise with its flaring spokes of light,
Nor glittering arows of morning can disperse,
But only Nature's aspect and her law,
Which, teaching us, hath this exordium:
Nothing from nothing ever yet was born

For memmius mine who thou has willed to be

In their lone seeking for the road of life
Rivals in genius, or emulous in rank
The whole of life but labors in the dark
For just as children tremble

O wretched minds of men, o blinded hearts
In how great perils in what darks of life

The paths of matter, its connections, weights,
Blows, clashings, motions, order, structure, shapes

This darkness of the mind
The lamps ablaze, the lights
Doth glitter not with gold

Which well perceived if thou will hold in mind
Then nature delivered from her haughty lord
And forthwith free is seen to do all things
Herself and through herself of own accord

O wretched minds of men, o blinded hearts
In how great perils in what darks of life

Along the void
In these affairs
Divine delight
Takes hold through me
Hath been on every side laid bare

Discere credas

Of nature's courses
(the terrors of the brain)
Asunder flee
(the ramparts of the earth)
Dispart away
(and through the void entire)
I see the movements
(of the universe)
Rises to vision
(the majesty of the gods)
Rises to vision

Good friend
When death's unvexed repose gets hold on man
That mortal lives the mind
With seeds so intertwined
It holds dominion

Whose mind and intellect abides
Abides in life
Discere credas

Under open skies
The shining water
If stars be out
In heaven

The shores of ether falls
The constellations
Within the dark
Within the light

Mouth into mouth
Mirror unto mirror

All the lures of love
Of love their flames
And that old fury visits them again

Mouth into mouth
Mirror onto mirror
I will unfold in verses sweeter

Ocean stars, sun and moon
Awe of god in all lands
Harsh masters deemed almighty
Wretched men, wretched men
Fiery exultation
Annihilation

Mortalis corpore cretus, mortalibus

Born in time
(mortal generation)
Born to die
(fiery exhalation)
World consumed
(races of mankind)
Warth and fire
(fading life behind)
Holy thought
(idols of the gods)
The world is not

Eternal

In constant flux do all things seem
Occultations thou mayest deem
The sudden slight of thunderbolt
The fears of old

Mortal generation
Annihilation

This darkness of the mind
Nor flaring spokes of light
Nor boundaries deep in time
With thee my guide

Animi ingratis vitam vexare sine ulla
Pausa atque infestis cogi saevire querellis,

Now come
And unto thee i will unfold
All wisdom
Truth speaking mouth
Discoveries divine of old

The men were lords
In honor, praise
And eminent
In goodly fame
Still anxious hearts
Torment the mind
Of lust and terror
We all endeavor
The world's great vaults
Are mortal
Frames built in time
Memmius mine
I have unraveled
What remains
The human race

This darkness of the mind
Nor flaring spokes of light
Nor boundaries deep in time
With thee my guide