Book Iv - Part 04 - Some Vital Functions Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDBEFGHICJBKLMNOPQ RKSTQIUVIWXYZUA2B2BC 2OD2BE2F2G2H2I2J2JNI K2L2M2D2FL2FN2O2P2Q2 F2R2ES2RT2U2BV2W2V2X 2V2JM2Y2NZ2A3M2IB3W2 X2C3M2I2D3QI2IUX2IM2 OUI2IFX2E3I2F3I2L2FI 2IG3G3I2H3M2IRI2I3IV VX2FIOJ3K3F3L3M3OI2I 2O L2IN3F3I2I2I2QII2O3I 2W2P3I2I2I2I2L2Q3I2I 2K3Q3X2R3H3I2S3T3I2I 2V2I2I2QI2U3L2I2I2IV 3I2NW3I2A2X3X2I2I2I2

In these affairsA
We crave that thou wilt passionately fleeB
The one offence and anxiously wilt shunC
The error of presuming the clear lightsD
Of eyes created were that we might seeB
Or thighs and knees aprop upon the feetE
Thuswise can bended be that we might stepF
With goodly strides ahead or forearms joinedG
Unto the sturdy uppers or serving handsH
On either side were given that we might doI
Life's own demands All such interpretationC
Is aft for fore with inverse reasoningJ
Since naught is born in body so that weB
May use the same but birth engenders useK
No seeing ere the lights of eyes were bornL
No speaking ere the tongue created wasM
But origin of tongue came long beforeN
Discourse of words and ears created wereO
Much earlier than any sound was heardP
And all the members so meseems were thereQ
Before they got their use and therefore theyR
Could not be gendered for the sake of useK
But contrariwise contending in the fightS
With hand to hand and rending of the jointsT
And fouling of the limbs with gore was thereQ
O long before the gleaming spears ere flewI
And Nature prompted man to shun a woundU
Before the left arm by the aid of artV
Opposed the shielding targe And verilyI
Yielding the weary body to reposeW
Far ancienter than cushions of soft bedsX
And quenching thirst is earlier than cupsY
These objects therefore which for use and lifeZ
Have been devised can be conceived as foundU
For sake of using But apart from suchA2
Are all which first were born and afterwardsB2
Gave knowledge of their own utilityB
Chief in which sort we note the senses limbsC2
Wherefore again 'tis quite beyond thy powerO
To hold that these could thus have been createD2
For office of utilityB
LikewiseE2
'Tis nothing strange that all the breathing creaturesF2
Seek even by nature of their frame their foodG2
Yes since I've taught thee that from off the thingsH2
Stream and depart innumerable bodiesI2
In modes innumerable too but mostJ2
Must be the bodies streaming from the livingJ
Which bodies vexed by motion evermoreN
Are through the mouth exhaled innumerableI
When weary creatures pant or through the sweatK2
Squeezed forth innumerable from deep withinL2
Thus body rarefies so underminedM2
In all its nature and pain attends its stateD2
And so the food is taken to underpropF
The tottering joints and by its interfusionL2
To re create their powers and there stop upF
The longing open mouthed through limbs and veinsN2
For eating And the moist no less departsO2
Into all regions that demand the moistP2
And many heaped up particles of hotQ2
Which cause such burnings in these bellies of oursF2
The liquid on arriving dissipatesR2
And quenches like a fire that parching heatE
No longer now can scorch the frame And soS2
Thou seest how panting thirst is washed awayR
From off our body how the hunger pangT2
It too appeasedU2
Now how it comes that weB
Whene'er we wish can step with strides aheadV2
And how 'tis given to move our limbs aboutW2
And what device is wont to push aheadV2
This the big load of our corporeal frameX2
I'll say to thee do thou attend what's saidV2
I say that first some idol films of walkingJ
Into our mind do fall and smite the mindM2
As said before Thereafter will arisesY2
For no one starts to do a thing beforeN
The intellect previsions what it willsZ2
And what it there pre visioneth dependsA3
On what that image is When therefore mindM2
Doth so bestir itself that it doth willI
To go and step along it strikes at onceB3
That energy of soul that's sown aboutW2
In all the body through the limbs and frameX2
And this is easy of performance sinceC3
The soul is close conjoined with the mindM2
Next soul in turn strikes body and by degreesI2
Thus the whole mass is pushed along and movedD3
Then too the body rarefies and airQ
Forsooth as ever of such nimblenessI2
Comes on and penetrates aboundinglyI
Through opened pores and thus is sprinkled roundU
Unto all smallest places in our frameX2
Thus then by these twain factors severallyI
Body is borne like ship with oars and windM2
Nor yet in these affairs is aught for wonderO
That particles so fine can whirl aroundU
So great a body and turn this weight of oursI2
For wind so tenuous with its subtle bodyI
Yet pushes driving on the mighty shipF
Of mighty bulk one hand directs the sameX2
Whatever its momentum and one helmE3
Whirls it around whither ye please and loadsI2
Many and huge are moved and hoisted highF3
By enginery of pulley blocks and wheelsI2
With but light strainL2
Now by what modes this sleepF
Pours through our members waters of reposeI2
And frees the breast from cares of mind I'll tellI
In verses sweeter than they many areG3
Even as the swan's slight note is better farG3
Than that dispersed clamour of the cranesI2
Among the south wind's aery clouds Do thouH3
Give me sharp ears and a sagacious mindM2
That thou mayst not deny the things to beI
Whereof I'm speaking nor depart awayR
With bosom scorning these the spoken truthsI2
Thyself at fault unable to perceiveI3
Sleep chiefly comes when energy of soulI
Hath now been scattered through the frame and partV
Expelled abroad and gone away and partV
Crammed back and settling deep within the frameX2
Whereafter then our loosened members droopF
For doubt is none that by the work of soulI
Exist in us this sense and when by slumberO
That sense is thwarted we are bound to thinkJ3
The soul confounded and expelled abroadK3
Yet not entirely else the frame would lieF3
Drenched in the everlasting cold of deathL3
In sooth where no one part of soul remainedM3
Lurking among the members even as fireO
Lurks buried under many ashes whenceI2
Could sense amain rekindled be in membersI2
As flame can rise anew from unseen fireO
-
By what devices this strange state and newL2
May be occasioned and by what the soulI
Can be confounded and the frame grow faintN3
I will untangle see to it thou that IF3
Pour forth my words not unto empty windsI2
In first place body on its outer partsI2
Since these are touched by neighbouring aery gustsI2
Must there be thumped and strook by blows of airQ
Repeatedly And therefore almost allI
Are covered either with hides or else with shellsI2
Or with the horny callus or with barkO3
Yet this same air lashes their inner partsI2
When creatures draw a breath or blow it outW2
Wherefore since body thus is flogged alikeP3
Upon the inside and the out and blowsI2
Come in upon us through the little poresI2
Even inward to our body's primal partsI2
And primal elements there comes to passI2
By slow degrees along our members thenL2
A kind of overthrow for then confoundedQ3
Are those arrangements of the primal germsI2
Of body and of mind It comes to passI2
That next a part of soul's expelled abroadK3
A part retreateth in recesses hidQ3
A part too scattered all about the frameX2
Cannot become united nor engageR3
In interchange of motion Nature nowH3
So hedges off approaches and the pathsI2
And thus the sense its motions all derangedS3
Retires down deep within and since there's naughtT3
As 'twere to prop the frame the body weakensI2
And all the members languish and the armsI2
And eyelids fall and as ye lie abedV2
Even there the houghs will sag and loose their powersI2
Again sleep follows after food becauseI2
The food produces same result as airQ
Whilst being scattered round through all the veinsI2
And much the heaviest is that slumber whichU3
Full or fatigued thou takest since 'tis thenL2
That the most bodies disarrange themselvesI2
Bruised by labours hard And in same wiseI2
This three fold change a forcing of the soulI
Down deeper more a casting forth of itV3
A moving more divided in its partsI2
And scattered moreN
And to whate'er pursuitW3
A man most clings absorbed or what the affairsI2
On which we theretofore have tarried muchA2
And mind hath strained upon the more we seemX3
In sleep not rarely to go at the sameX2
The lawyers seem to plead and cite decreesI2
Commanders they to fight and go at fraysI2
SailorsI2

Lucretius



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