[Chorus]
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
And the real nature of the things our senses experience
Especially those that entice us with pleasure
Or frighten us with pain
Or are loudly trumpeted by pride
To understand those things
How stupid
Contemptible
Grimy
Decaying
And dead they are
That’s what our
Intellectual
Powers are for
[Chorus]
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
Understand what those people really amount to
Whose opinions and voices constitute fame
And what dying is
And if you look at it
In the abstract
And break down your imaginary ideas of it by logical analysis, you realize that it’s nothing
But a process of natur
Which only children can be scared of
And not just a process of nature
But a necessary one
[Chorus]
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
(Instrumental Bridge)
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
And the real nature of the things our senses experience
Especially those that entice us with pleasure
Or frighten us with pain
Or are loudly trumpeted by pride
To understand those things
How stupid
Contemptible
Grimy
Decaying
And dead they are
That’s what our
Intellectual
Powers are for
[Chorus]
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
Understand what those people really amount to
Whose opinions and voices constitute fame
And what dying is
And if you look at it
In the abstract
And break down your imaginary ideas of it by logical analysis, you realize that it’s nothing
But a process of natur
Which only children can be scared of
And not just a process of nature
But a necessary one
[Chorus]
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
The speed with which all of them vanish
The objects in the world
And the memory of them in time
Of them in time
(Instrumental Bridge)
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
How man
Grasps God
With what part of himself he does so
And how that part is conditioned when he does
In comparing sins
The way that people do
Theophrastus says
Those done out of desire
Are worse than those
Done out of anger
(Which is good philosophy)
The angry man
Seems to turn his back
On reason out of a kind of pain and inner convulsion
But the man motivated by desire
Who is mastered by pleasure
Seems somehow more self-indulgent, less manly in his sins
Theophrastus is right
And philosophically sound
To say the sin committed out of pleasure
Deserves a harsher rebuke
Than the one committed out of pain
The angry man is more like a victim
Of wrongdoing
Provoked by pain to anger
The other man rushes into wrongdoing
On his own
Moved to action by desire
[Chorus]
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
If the gods exist
Then to abandon human beings is not frightening
The gods would never subject you to harm
And if they don’t exist
Or don’t care what happens to us
What would be the point
Of living in a world
Without gods or Providence?
But they do exist
They do care what happens to us
And everything a person needs to avoid real harm
They have placed within him
If there were anything harmful on the other side of death
They would have made sure that the ability to avoid it was within you
If it doesn’t harm your character
How can it harm your life?
Nature would not overlook such dangers
Through failing to recognize
Or because it saw them but was powerless to prevent or correct them
To prevent or correct them
(Ey)
Nor would it ever
Through inability or incompetence
Make such a mistake as to let good and bad things happen indiscriminately to good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
But death and life
Success and failure
Pain and pleasure
Wealth and poverty
All these happen to good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
But death and life
Success and failure
Pain and pleasure
All these happen to good and bad alike
And they are neither noble nor shameful and hence neither good
Nor bad
[Chorus]
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
The way that people do
Theophrastus says
Those done out of desire
Are worse than those
Done out of anger
(Which is good philosophy)
The angry man
Seems to turn his back
On reason out of a kind of pain and inner convulsion
But the man motivated by desire
Who is mastered by pleasure
Seems somehow more self-indulgent, less manly in his sins
Theophrastus is right
And philosophically sound
To say the sin committed out of pleasure
Deserves a harsher rebuke
Than the one committed out of pain
The angry man is more like a victim
Of wrongdoing
Provoked by pain to anger
The other man rushes into wrongdoing
On his own
Moved to action by desire
[Chorus]
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
If the gods exist
Then to abandon human beings is not frightening
The gods would never subject you to harm
And if they don’t exist
Or don’t care what happens to us
What would be the point
Of living in a world
Without gods or Providence?
But they do exist
They do care what happens to us
And everything a person needs to avoid real harm
They have placed within him
If there were anything harmful on the other side of death
They would have made sure that the ability to avoid it was within you
If it doesn’t harm your character
How can it harm your life?
Nature would not overlook such dangers
Through failing to recognize
Or because it saw them but was powerless to prevent or correct them
To prevent or correct them
(Ey)
Nor would it ever
Through inability or incompetence
Make such a mistake as to let good and bad things happen indiscriminately to good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
But death and life
Success and failure
Pain and pleasure
Wealth and poverty
All these happen to good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
Good and bad alike
But death and life
Success and failure
Pain and pleasure
All these happen to good and bad alike
And they are neither noble nor shameful and hence neither good
Nor bad
[Chorus]
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
Let that determine what you do and say and think
You could leave life right now
You could leave life right now
Concentrate
Every minute like a Roman
Like a man
On doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness
Tenderly
Willingly
With justice
And on freeing yourself from all other distractions
Yes, you can
If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life
And stop being aimless
Stop letting your emotions override what your mind knows
Stop being hypocritical
Self-centered
Irritable
You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life?
If you can manage this
That’s all even the gods can ask of you
[Chorus]
Yeah, keep on degrading yourself
Soul
Soon your chance at dignity
It will be gone
Everybody gets one life
Yours is almost all used up
Now
And instead of treating yourself
With respect
You have entrusted
Your own happiness
Unto the souls of others
Unto the souls of others
Do external things distract you?
Then make time to learn something worthwhile
Stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions
But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion
People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct
Every thought and impulse toward are wasting all their time
Even when hard at work
Even when hard at work
Ignoring what goes on in other people’s souls
No one ever came to grief that way
But if you won’t keep track of what your own soul’s doing
How can you not be unhappy?
Don’t ever forget these things
The nature of the world
My nature
How I relate
Unto the world
What proportion of it I make up
That you are part of nature
And no one can prevent you from speaking and acting in harmony with it
Always
[Chorus]
Yeah, keep on degrading yourself
Soul
Soon your chance at dignity
It will be gone
Everybody gets one life
Yours is almost all used up
Now
And instead of treating yourself
With respect
You have entrusted
Your own happiness
Unto the souls of others
Unto the souls of others
Every minute like a Roman
Like a man
On doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness
Tenderly
Willingly
With justice
And on freeing yourself from all other distractions
Yes, you can
If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life
And stop being aimless
Stop letting your emotions override what your mind knows
Stop being hypocritical
Self-centered
Irritable
You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life?
If you can manage this
That’s all even the gods can ask of you
[Chorus]
Yeah, keep on degrading yourself
Soul
Soon your chance at dignity
It will be gone
Everybody gets one life
Yours is almost all used up
Now
And instead of treating yourself
With respect
You have entrusted
Your own happiness
Unto the souls of others
Unto the souls of others
Do external things distract you?
Then make time to learn something worthwhile
Stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions
But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion
People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct
Every thought and impulse toward are wasting all their time
Even when hard at work
Even when hard at work
Ignoring what goes on in other people’s souls
No one ever came to grief that way
But if you won’t keep track of what your own soul’s doing
How can you not be unhappy?
Don’t ever forget these things
The nature of the world
My nature
How I relate
Unto the world
What proportion of it I make up
That you are part of nature
And no one can prevent you from speaking and acting in harmony with it
Always
[Chorus]
Yeah, keep on degrading yourself
Soul
Soon your chance at dignity
It will be gone
Everybody gets one life
Yours is almost all used up
Now
And instead of treating yourself
With respect
You have entrusted
Your own happiness
Unto the souls of others
Unto the souls of others
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself
The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous
And surly
They are like this cause they can’t tell good from evil
But I have seen the beauty of good
And the ugliness of evil
And have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own
Not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind
And possessing a share of the divine
Not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind
And possessing a share of the divine
And so none of them can hurt me
No one can implicate me in ugliness
Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him
We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes
Like the two rows of teeth
Upper and lower
To obstruct each other is unnatural
To feel anger at someone
To turn your back on him
These are obstructions
[Pre-Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
[Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Whatever this is that I am, it is flesh, a little spirit, an intelligence
Throw away your books
Stop letting yourself be distracted
That is not allowed
Instead, as if you were dying right now
Despise your flesh!
A mess of blood, pieces of bone, a woven tangle of nerves, veins, arteries
Consider what the spirit is
Air
And never the same air
But vomited out and gulped in again every instant
[Breathing]
Finally
The intelligence
Think of it this way
You are an old man
Stop allowing your mind to be a slave
To be jerked about by selfish impulses
To kick against fate and the present
And to mistrust the future
What is divine is full of Providence
Even chance is not divorced from nature
From the inweaving and enfolding of things
Governed by Providence
Everything proceeds from it
And then there is necessity and the needs of the whole world
Of which you are a part
Whatever the nature of the whole does, and whatever serves to maintain it
Is good for every part of nature
The world is maintained by change
In the elements and in the things they compose
That should be enough for you
Treat it as an axiom
Treat it as an axiom
[Pre-Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
[Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Oh!
What a glories thing
Waking up in the morning, baby
Oh!
What a glories thing
Yes, I have a whole day! Hey!
Oh!
What a glories thing
Waking up in the morning, baby
Oh-oh!
What a glories thing
Yes, I have a whole —— day!
[Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Remember how long you’ve been putting this off
How many extensions the Gods gave you
And you didn’t use them
At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to
What power rules it and from what source you spring
That there is a limit to the time assigned you
And if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone
And will never
Return
The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous
And surly
They are like this cause they can’t tell good from evil
But I have seen the beauty of good
And the ugliness of evil
And have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own
Not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind
And possessing a share of the divine
Not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind
And possessing a share of the divine
And so none of them can hurt me
No one can implicate me in ugliness
Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him
We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes
Like the two rows of teeth
Upper and lower
To obstruct each other is unnatural
To feel anger at someone
To turn your back on him
These are obstructions
[Pre-Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
[Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Whatever this is that I am, it is flesh, a little spirit, an intelligence
Throw away your books
Stop letting yourself be distracted
That is not allowed
Instead, as if you were dying right now
Despise your flesh!
A mess of blood, pieces of bone, a woven tangle of nerves, veins, arteries
Consider what the spirit is
Air
And never the same air
But vomited out and gulped in again every instant
[Breathing]
Finally
The intelligence
Think of it this way
You are an old man
Stop allowing your mind to be a slave
To be jerked about by selfish impulses
To kick against fate and the present
And to mistrust the future
What is divine is full of Providence
Even chance is not divorced from nature
From the inweaving and enfolding of things
Governed by Providence
Everything proceeds from it
And then there is necessity and the needs of the whole world
Of which you are a part
Whatever the nature of the whole does, and whatever serves to maintain it
Is good for every part of nature
The world is maintained by change
In the elements and in the things they compose
That should be enough for you
Treat it as an axiom
Treat it as an axiom
[Pre-Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
[Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Oh!
What a glories thing
Waking up in the morning, baby
Oh!
What a glories thing
Yes, I have a whole day! Hey!
Oh!
What a glories thing
Waking up in the morning, baby
Oh-oh!
What a glories thing
Yes, I have a whole —— day!
[Chorus]
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Discard your thirst for books
So you won’t die in bitterness
But in cheerfulness and truth
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart
Remember how long you’ve been putting this off
How many extensions the Gods gave you
And you didn’t use them
At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to
What power rules it and from what source you spring
That there is a limit to the time assigned you
And if you don’t use it to free yourself it will be gone
And will never
Return
I had good grandparents
A good mother and father
A good sister
Good teachers
Good servants
Relatives, friends
Nearly everything good
And that I never lost control of myself with any of them
Although I had it in me to do that
And I might have
Easily
But thanks to the gods
I was never put in that position
And so I escaped the test
I was never put in that position
And so I escaped the test
That I wasn’t longer raised by my granddad’s girlfriend
I didn’t lose my virginity too early
And didn’t enter adulthood until it was time
Hell, I put off
That I had
Someone
As a ruler and father
Who could keep me from arrogance
To live in a palace without body guards
Without fancy dresses or torches or statues or such like show
That you can live much like a regular person
Not remiss in action or careless a ruler
When carrying out official obligations
That I had the kind of brother I did
One whose character challenged me to
Improve my own
One whose love and affection
Enriched my whole life
That my children weren’t born
Stupid or physically deformed
That I wasn’t more talented
In rhetoric or poetry
They could have consumed me
If I had seen progress
I might never have given them up
That I conferred on the people who brought me up
The honors that they seemed to want early on
Instead of putting them off
Since they were still young
With the hope that I’d do it later
That I knew Apollonius
And Rusticus
And Maximus
That I was shown clearly and often
What it would be like to live as nature requires
[Chorus]
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands
And if I’ve failed
It’s no one’s fault but mine
Cause I didn't pay attention
To what they told me
To what they taught me
Practically, step by step
That my body has held up
For so long through such a life
That I never laid a finger
On Benedicta
Or Theodotus
Even later
I was overcome by passion
I recovered
Even though
I often quarreled with Rusticus
I never did nothing that I regretted later
And though my mother died young
She spent her last years with me
And if I ever wished to help a man in need
I was never told that I had not the means
That I was never put in that position myself
Of having to take something from somebody else
That I have the wife I do
Obedient
Loving
Humble
That my children had competent teachers
For the remedies shown me in dream
When I was coughing blood
When my head was spinning
(Spinning)
(Spinning)
When I had an inclination
To philosophy
I didn’t fall into the hands of any
Sophist
That I didn't waste my time
On writers of histories
Or in the resolution of syllogisms
Or occupy myself about the investigation
Of appearances in the heavens
For all these things require the help
Of the gods and fortune
[Chorus]
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands
A good mother and father
A good sister
Good teachers
Good servants
Relatives, friends
Nearly everything good
And that I never lost control of myself with any of them
Although I had it in me to do that
And I might have
Easily
But thanks to the gods
I was never put in that position
And so I escaped the test
I was never put in that position
And so I escaped the test
That I wasn’t longer raised by my granddad’s girlfriend
I didn’t lose my virginity too early
And didn’t enter adulthood until it was time
Hell, I put off
That I had
Someone
As a ruler and father
Who could keep me from arrogance
To live in a palace without body guards
Without fancy dresses or torches or statues or such like show
That you can live much like a regular person
Not remiss in action or careless a ruler
When carrying out official obligations
That I had the kind of brother I did
One whose character challenged me to
Improve my own
One whose love and affection
Enriched my whole life
That my children weren’t born
Stupid or physically deformed
That I wasn’t more talented
In rhetoric or poetry
They could have consumed me
If I had seen progress
I might never have given them up
That I conferred on the people who brought me up
The honors that they seemed to want early on
Instead of putting them off
Since they were still young
With the hope that I’d do it later
That I knew Apollonius
And Rusticus
And Maximus
That I was shown clearly and often
What it would be like to live as nature requires
[Chorus]
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands
And if I’ve failed
It’s no one’s fault but mine
Cause I didn't pay attention
To what they told me
To what they taught me
Practically, step by step
That my body has held up
For so long through such a life
That I never laid a finger
On Benedicta
Or Theodotus
Even later
I was overcome by passion
I recovered
Even though
I often quarreled with Rusticus
I never did nothing that I regretted later
And though my mother died young
She spent her last years with me
And if I ever wished to help a man in need
I was never told that I had not the means
That I was never put in that position myself
Of having to take something from somebody else
That I have the wife I do
Obedient
Loving
Humble
That my children had competent teachers
For the remedies shown me in dream
When I was coughing blood
When my head was spinning
(Spinning)
(Spinning)
When I had an inclination
To philosophy
I didn’t fall into the hands of any
Sophist
That I didn't waste my time
On writers of histories
Or in the resolution of syllogisms
Or occupy myself about the investigation
Of appearances in the heavens
For all these things require the help
Of the gods and fortune
[Chorus]
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands
Thanks to the gods
They did all they could
Through their gifts
Their help
Their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live
As nature demands