Perpetual Flow of Energy

"The only reality is the perpetual flow of vital energy." Montale

I came across this quote in a book I was reading for my poetry class. It proceeded  Derek Mahon's poem "A Swim in Co. Wicklow."Though it took me a while to understand what the poems meaning was I realized it was all held in Montale's quote. The poem talks about the changes and flowing nature of water in all of its form; from the lakes, rivers, and woodland pools to the "swirl and spin" of the sea.

This theme struck a cord with me after reading the last chapter of Ovid for the second time. Like the flow of water or "virtual energy" Ovid explains that life is cyclical; nothing is ever destroyed but only changes. It exists in a closed circle of change.

"Nothing retains the shape of what it was, And Nature, always making old things new, Proves nothing dies within the universe, But takes another being in new forms." - Ovid

I thought Montale's quote fit nicely in to what we were talking about in class Monday so I figured I would share it.