Now father has set in flesh Great bequeather and sufficient cause What before was not, king of all effects Ruler of all creation Strife - all gods and men reveal Of substance thou art father War - here dictate by thy hands Bear the names of all births and deaths Strife - the nature of all agents Speaks in life's anthesis Shall he remain man, or become a God In the conflict of all? Name the enslavers and saviours By one the other strife designates The bow would be left unstrung And the cosmos dead but for war To all things that find existence in conception Strife is the father of all in nature To all things acknowledge your monarch and king Polemos pater panton Would that Conflict vanish from among both men and gods The declaration leapt from Achilles' tongue Would thou pray for the destruction of all moving objects? For even man and God are both born of war Source of the light and the dark Both share a stem in strife False - the error that they are two The harmony of opposing force To all things that swim in the current of creation War the baptizer and regulator To all things render your fealty in return Polemos pater panton