This is the story told
Of ones both new and old:
The Cephalopods so great,
Arcane ones whose fate
Would overthrow the might
Of Leviathan's sight
And rule with wisdom deep
Where ancient secrets keep.
The sons of Cephalopus
Would grow so glorious
That sons of Scaphopus,
Not quite so prosperous,
Would fade from memory
Throughout history.
Few know them at all
Who hear the ocean's call.
The degenerate sons
Of Scaphopus, when begun
Their lives, would never know
The heights their cousins' show.
Cephalopus begat
Plectron, and from begat
Him came a noble line
With intelligence divine.
Plectron begat the son
Called Ellesmer, begun
In wisdom's deepest lore
From mountain peak to shore.
Ellesmere went deeper
Than any secret keeper
Had gone before his time
Down below the brine
Where mysteries lay hid
From all that daylight did
To illuminate the world
Where surface waves are curled.
Ellesmer begat two:
Endos, tried and true,
And Actinos the bright
Who flew to heaven's height.
Endos bore many sons
Who when their work was done
Moved slowly through the sea
With great dignity.
Greatest among them all
Who answered wisdom's call
Was Cameroceras Magnus,
Known as Cameromagne,
Whose name through history
Rings with victory
Over Leviathan's
Great dominion's plans.
Cameromagne overthrew
The sons of Leviathan, who
Had ruled the seas so long
With their imperial song.
Endoceras, his son,
When his growth was done
Grew nine thousand long
Millimeters strong.
Twenty cubits he
Measured, front to back, free
From end to end complete—
No foe could compete.
He dwarfed Leviathan
Fourfold, and began
A new age in the sea
Of cephalopod decree.
Actinos, by his air
Heavenly and fair
Within his shell contained,
Had power that sustained
His ability to rise
Up to the starry skies
And down to earth descend
As suited his end.
Actinos begat two:
Orthosceros so true
And Tarphy, young and wild,
Evolution's favored child.
Tarphy lived so fast
In youth, while time would last
He coiled his shell around
A hundred times, and found
Great joy in swimming free
As hunter of the sea.
But when old age drew near
His path became more clear.
He uncoiled his shell
And settled where he'd dwell
Upon the earth below
Where wisdom's waters flow.
In his old age he bore
Countless children more
Who did the very same:
Youth's glory and fame
In bounty of the heights
Where heaven's glory lights
The way for those who soar,
And age where depths store
Their safety and their peace
Where all struggles cease
And wisdom finds its home
Where wise ones always roam.
Tarphy begat two sons:
Oncos when day begun
And Barrandeos strong
Who lived his whole life long.
Oncos lived a life
Without much joy or strife—
Coiled but simple, he
Lived quite peacefully.
Oncos bore many sons,
Among them when begun
Their lives was Rutos, who
Would see great wonders through.
Rutos bore a son
Named Nautilus, begun
In wisdom of the deep
That ancestors would keep.
The sons of Nautilus
Live on, so glorious,
Today just as they were
When time was but a blur
In days of Rutos old
And Cameromagne bold
Who conquered all the seas
With their strategies.
Orthosceros begat
Two sons: first he begat
Ascos, who would know
How graciousness could grow,
And Bacchus, small but who
Would make his vision true
Through numbers vast and wide
That could not be denied.
Ascos lived his youth
With shell that spoke no truth
Of grace—clumsy and slow,
Unable to bestow
Upon his movements any
Grace—not one of many
Who swam with elegance
In ocean's great expanse.
And so he broke it off,
And many would scoff
At such a drastic deed
To serve his greater need.
But in adulthood he
Was graceful as could be,
Above all others bright
In beauty and in sight.
His sons continued this
Tradition of the bliss
That comes from sacrifice
Of shell for something nice:
The grace that can't be bought
But only can be sought
Through willingness to break
What others never forsake.
Their life cycle shows
How true wisdom grows:
From clumsy youth they start
Then play their graceful part
When adulthood arrives
And each one finally thrives
In grace beyond compare
That fills the water fair.
But Bacchus was so small
And seemed to one and all
Insignificant and weak,
With nothing much to seek.
But he bore children who
Would make his vision true:
A million sons and daughters
Filled up the salty waters.
Soon the world was full
Of his progeny's pull
On every living space
In ocean's vast embrace.
What seemed insignificant
Became most significant
Through power of increase
That never seemed to cease.
From small beginnings came
A multitude of fame
That filled the world entire
With Bacchus' desire
To populate the sea
With his progeny
Until there was no place
That didn't show his trace.
The cephalopods show
How wisdom's seeds can grow
From deep intelligence
To rule with providence
Over the ancient sea
Where Leviathan's decree
Once held the power supreme
In every ocean's dream.
But wisdom overthrew
The old order, and new
Lords of the sea arose
To challenge all their foes
With intelligence bright
And grace beyond all sight
And power to ascend
From beginning to end
Of ocean's vast domain
Where they would always reign
With wisdom as their crown
And grace as their renown.
From Cameromagne's might
That brought the ancient fight
To Leviathan's door
And won forevermore
The right to rule the sea
With wise authority,
To Nautilus who shows
How ancient wisdom flows
Through generations long
In never-ending song
Of those who keep the way
From night into the day,
The cephalopods remind
Us that the wisest mind
Often starts quite small
But answers wisdom's call
To grow beyond all measure
And find the greatest treasure:
The power to transcend
What others comprehend
Through intelligence divine
That makes all wisdom shine
In forms both strange and new
But beautiful and true.
In every octopus
And squid so glorious
Who swims with grace through
The waters deep and blue,
In every nautilus
Who keeps so glorious
The ancient spiral shell
That tells its story well
Of how the wise can keep
What time has buried deep
While changing what must change
To expand their range,
The legacy lives on
From dusk until the dawn
Of those who overthrew
The old to make it new
Not through destruction's might
But wisdom's gentle sight
That sees what must remain
And what brings only pain.
The cephalopods' way
Lives on to this day
In every graceful move
And every way they prove
That intelligence combined
With grace of heart and mind
Can conquer any foe
And help all wisdom grow
From small to great and vast
Until at long last
The wise inherit all
Who answer wisdom's call.
From Ellesmer's deep dive
To keep the past alive
While finding something new
In wisdom's vast review,
The cephalopods teach
That heights within our reach
Are limited only by
Our willingness to try
To grow beyond the small
And answer wisdom's call
To be more than we seem
In evolution's dream.
Their arcane wisdom shows
How true intelligence grows
Not through force or might
But through the inner sight
That sees what others miss
And finds in this
The power to transcend
All limits and extend
The boundaries of what
Is possible, and what
The wise can achieve
When they truly believe
In wisdom's power to
Make all their dreams come true
Through patience and through grace
In evolution's race.
The sons of Cephalopus
Remain so glorious
Because they chose the way
Of wisdom every day
And let intelligence
Be their defense
Against all who would try
To make their wisdom die.
In this they succeeded
Where others never heeded
The call to grow beyond
The limits that are spawned
By those who cannot see
What wisdom's gift can be
To those who dare to dive
Deep and stay alive
In waters where the wise
Can see with clearer eyes
The truth that sets them free
To rule the boundless sea.