Plato's Atlantis (song)

Song: Plato's Atlantis
Music, Lyrics & Voices: Ai
Arranged and Rewritten: Aaron J. Weaver

[chorus]
The philosopher Plato, with a steady hand,
Wrote of Atlantis, a drowned, mythic land.
In the Timaeus, a tale of cosmic birth,
He spoke of its origins and golden worth.

Then in Critias, a second book for fame,
He detailed the empire's power and slow shame.
A civilization drowned beneath the brine,
A moral lesson penned in every line.

[verse1]
Beyond Hercules' Pillars, where the ocean rolls,
An empire rose for high-born, mortal souls.
Poseidon's gift, an island in the West,
A fertile plain, for weary gods to rest.

With rings of seas and lands, a perfect band,
A navel-city rose from mortal hand.
Here, hot and cold springs fed the aqueduct,
And clever hands magnificent structures built.

[verse2]
The halls of kings, of ivory and gold,
With orichalcum, precious to behold.
The land was rich, the soil was lush and deep,
A vast canal for mighty ships to sweep.

For generations, righteous rule held sway,
The kings obeyed, their mortal souls at bay.
But with the slow turn of the cosmic wheel,
The human half began the world to feel.

[verse3]
The mortal strain, with greed and vice entwined,
Left ancient virtue of the gods behind.
They sought dominion with a swelling pride,
With conquest's thirst they could no longer hide.

Then mighty Zeus, from his celestial hall,
Perceived the stain, the coming of the fall.
A punishment for those who lost their way,
Before the prideful god he could not stay.

[verse4]
The earth then groaned, a deep, tectonic sigh,
A flood from heaven, from a trembling sky.
In one dark day, and in one fearsome night,
The great king's city vanished from all sight.

The island sank, consumed beneath the waves,
Into the sea it went, with all its brave.
A muddy shoal, where once the city stood,
A silent tomb where none can pass or should.

[bridge]
The legend passed, from Egyptian priest to Solon's ears,
A moral tale to quiet or awaken human fears.
Of perfect states that crumble into dust,
When mortal virtue fails celestial trust.