If the laws of him who thunders on high you wish 
Wisely to discern, with an unclouded mind,
Look to the heights of the sky above.
There by an equitable arrangement of things 
The stars preserve their ancient peace.
The sun, inflamed with red-hot fire,
Does not hinder the moon's icy chariot,
Nor does she who at the world's highest pole
Bends her swift course, the Great Bear,
Who is never bathed in the western depths,
Though she sees the other stars immersed,
Wish to plunge her own flames into the sea.
Always by smooth succession of time
The evening star heralds late shadows 
And the morning star brings back nurturing day.
Thus the eternal courses are renewed
By mutual love; thus from the starry
Shores is violent discord banished.
Harmony combines these elements 
In equal measure, so that the warring 
Wet places yield by turns to the dry,
And the cold places join in faith with the flames; 
The floating fire rises upwards
And the heavy regions sink from their weight.
By the same causes in the warm Spring
The blossoming year exhales perfumes,
Fiery Summer dries the grain,
Autumn returns laden with fruit,
Streaming showers irrigate Winter.
This mixture nourishes and brings forth 
All in the world that has the breath of life.
It also carries off and hides what has arisen,
Seizing it and burying it in ultimate death.
Meanwhile the high creator sits
And, ruling, directs the reins of things,
King and Lord, wellspring and source,
Law and wise overseer of justice,
And that which he impels into motion,
He restrains, and makes fast that which wanders.
For unless, recalling them to their proper course,
He gathered them again into curved circuits,
Those things now sustained by a stable order
Would fail, cut off from their source.
This is the love that is common to all things
And they seek to be held to the limit of the good,
For they cannot otherwise endure,
Unless once again by redirected love
They flow back to the cause that gave them being.