O lente, lente currite noctis equi!
— Marlowe, after Ovid.
 
La mer, la mer, toujours recommencée.
—Valéry.
 
Dying by inches, I can hear the sound
Of all the fine words for the flow of things
The poets and philosophers have used
To mark the path into the killing ground.
Perhaps their one aim was to give words wings,
Or even just to keep themselves amused,
With no thought that they might not be around
To see the rising sun:
But still they found a measure for our plight
As we prepare to leave the world of men.