The Serpent's Tail (Ouroboros)

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
Here in this dim workshop, Carl Gustav, you at 45 in 1920,
holding the bronze medallion from Alexandria's dust,
engraved with Cleopatra's serpent, 2nd century AD,
one is the all, it says, devouring its tail in eternal loop.
I trace the cool metal edge with my thumb,
feeling the bite where head meets scale,
a neural circuit firing back on itself,
like thoughts in the prefrontal cortex,
recycling pain into wisdom, samsara's wheel turning.

[Chorus]
O serpent, my quiet companion,
you eat your end to begin again,
in the alchemy of synapses,
Jung's prima materia, man himself,
wholeness in the devour,
infinity in this worn curve.

[Verse 2]
The room smells of musty parchment and ink,
candle flickering on the table beside the half-eaten loaf,
from Berthelot's collection, 1888 Paris,
I see you, two-headed in some forgotten manuscript,
one biting, one gazing out,
duality of self and awareness,
like dopamine loops in the striatum,
consuming memory to forge the new.

[Bridge]
What if I break the circle, loved one,
this medallion in my palm,
no more rebirth, just the still point,
Buddhist nirvana interrupting the Greek cycle,
neurons quieting the eternal return.

[Verse 3]
Late evening shadows stretch,
the quill beside vials of murky elixir,
I address you, bronze echo of Enceladus buried,
but you persist, symbol of entropy's defeat,
heat death postponed in the mind's renewal.

[Chorus]
O serpent, my quiet companion,
you eat your end to begin again,
in the alchemy of synapses,
Jung's prima materia, man himself,
wholeness in the devour,
infinity in this worn curve.

[Outro]
One is the all, in my hand,
eternal, intimate bite.