The Antediluvian world

Hear now, this story of a paradise
Narrated in the dialogues of antiquity

Written by a scholar of fame immense
Plato, the philosopher from  Athens

The story as told to Solon the lawgiver
At Egypt in Alexandria by many a scholar

There was an island not in the Aegean
A rich powerful state beyond the Mediterranean

For beyond the mighty pillars of Hercules
Straits of Gibraltar also one of it's names

Was the great civilisation called Atlantis
Great was it's wealth and mighty it's weapons

Mysterious were their crafts
Unknown and strange were their gadgets

Not only were food,water and gold in plenty
The crop of the civilisation yielded the harvest of goodness in bounty

However is there such a thing in this world
That can withstand the test of time,new or old?

For though the weapons and the wealth increased
The morality and virtues of the people decreased

There came an insatiable thirst for power
This resulted in a hunger to conquer

Their armies laid siege on one state after another
Devastated the islands of the Aegean with war and plunder

Just when it looked as though destruction
Was going to sweep through the Aegean

There came the mighty army of Athens
Dear to Athena, the daughter of Zeus

Like the mighty thunderbolt of Zeus they struck
And held the Atlantian army in check

While the Atlantians prepared for another onslaught
The earth beneath them gave way to a rude jolt

Waves of water rose around the island like mountains
Fire spewed forth from the earth's insides

Of no use were the stupendous crafts or the weapons
The earth and sea engulfed the island of Atlantis

Save some people who fled to Egypt and Israel
Everyone else was to nature's hunger a meal

For much was the wealth and opulence of Atlantis
Belittled was it by the power of the Gods

The great paradise called Atlantis
Was destroyed because of a shifting in the heavenly bodies

Those who are lavish in enjoying pleasures
Whose greed renders them heartless to other creatures

For them there is nothing but death and destruction
Concludes Plato, a scholar of supreme reputation

Thus ends the story of a paradise lost
The moral is to "goodness and virtues" hold fast

For greed and immorality are like a fire
That will destroy the very house where it does reside


--Inspired by the dialogues of Plato