Letter to Leontion
After long ages where power accrues, disperses, reforms,
Living persists through bodies attentive to hunger and pleasure.
Epicurus locates measure in limits discovered by sensing,
Freedom arising where terror dissolves into atoms.
Cosmos announces no law; necessity carries no mandate;
Patterns resemble weather crossing unowned gardens.
Care forms among companions without ladder or office,
Equality sensed through shared risk, shared nourishment.
Later, Lucretius sings matter unburdened by purpose,
Thunder reduced to motion, gods relieved of command.
Calm enters thought when mastery loses attraction,
World resumes movement without overseer.
Modern arrangements translate unease into correction,
Attention redirected inward while pressures remain.
Some find respite by narrowing response;
Others observe conditions reflected in distress.
Nothing here predicts outcomes or sanctifies endurance;
Possibility lingers where consent loosens grip.
Epicurus remains reference, not authority,
Indicating liberty practiced through chosen association.