Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Matt Ehret recites the immortal poem by contemporary classical poet Daniel Leach titled 'Song of the Crab Nebula'.
By Dan Leach
Long before the first eyes ever saw me
Floating like a ghost upon the night,
Long before human minds even feebly
Pierced beyond their dimly shrouded sight,
I was there, though clothed in different raiment,
Blazing like your own, my brother sun,
Over unimagined reaches distant,
When your infant world had just begun.
When your wise men looked upon the heavens,
I was but another shadowy form,
That no one guessed was the same which legends
Told of, dying in a fiery storm—
Filling all the sky with brilliant lightning,
When a spiritual darkness covered earth,
That, though darkened minds saw only dying,
Was the herald of my spirit’s birth!
Then I grew into a form more subtle
Than the human eye could ever see,
Veiled as in a diaphanous mantle,
Taunting your mind to discover me—
For within, a heart lies deeply hidden,
Beating with a silent pulse that sings,
Hurling unseen beams across Time’s chasm,
Like the thoughts that move all living things.
I was watching as your great explorers
Ventured on your planetary seas,
And when bolder minds dared to discover
Things beyond the senses’ certainties,
Waiting as you grew into a being
That could feel my coursing, thought-like beams,
And, then recognize their higher meaning
In your growing universe of dreams.
As with sunlight, tiny atoms quicken,
Into earth’s vast, living harmony,
Endless, untold worlds of thought awaken
When, at last, you grasp my mystery;
When the passion for those passing shadows,
For the higher, unseen things, you feel,
My dark beauty will no more elude you,
Haunting like a thing unknown, unreal.
You will someday reach beyond the limit
Even of our galaxy’s own shore,
Spreading thought like light into some dim-lit
Cavern that invites you to explore—
Then you will remember what first called you
To whatever heights your spirit leads,
And I will be smiling ever on you,
When you bend the distant stars like reeds!
Daniel Leach is a poet living in Houston, Texas who has spent much of his life fighting for the ideals of classical culture and poetry. His works have been been published on The Chained Muse, Imaginative Conservative, Society of Classical Poets and his volume of poetry, compiling over 20 years of composition is entitled “Voices on the Wind" available here:
amazon.com/Voices-Wind-Poems-Daniel-Leach/dp/1074204778
Matt Ehret recites the immortal poem by contemporary classical poet Daniel Leach titled 'Song of the Crab Nebula'.
By Dan Leach
Long before the first eyes ever saw me
Floating like a ghost upon the night,
Long before human minds even feebly
Pierced beyond their dimly shrouded sight,
I was there, though clothed in different raiment,
Blazing like your own, my brother sun,
Over unimagined reaches distant,
When your infant world had just begun.
When your wise men looked upon the heavens,
I was but another shadowy form,
That no one guessed was the same which legends
Told of, dying in a fiery storm—
Filling all the sky with brilliant lightning,
When a spiritual darkness covered earth,
That, though darkened minds saw only dying,
Was the herald of my spirit’s birth!
Then I grew into a form more subtle
Than the human eye could ever see,
Veiled as in a diaphanous mantle,
Taunting your mind to discover me—
For within, a heart lies deeply hidden,
Beating with a silent pulse that sings,
Hurling unseen beams across Time’s chasm,
Like the thoughts that move all living things.
I was watching as your great explorers
Ventured on your planetary seas,
And when bolder minds dared to discover
Things beyond the senses’ certainties,
Waiting as you grew into a being
That could feel my coursing, thought-like beams,
And, then recognize their higher meaning
In your growing universe of dreams.
As with sunlight, tiny atoms quicken,
Into earth’s vast, living harmony,
Endless, untold worlds of thought awaken
When, at last, you grasp my mystery;
When the passion for those passing shadows,
For the higher, unseen things, you feel,
My dark beauty will no more elude you,
Haunting like a thing unknown, unreal.
You will someday reach beyond the limit
Even of our galaxy’s own shore,
Spreading thought like light into some dim-lit
Cavern that invites you to explore—
Then you will remember what first called you
To whatever heights your spirit leads,
And I will be smiling ever on you,
When you bend the distant stars like reeds!
Daniel Leach is a poet living in Houston, Texas who has spent much of his life fighting for the ideals of classical culture and poetry. His works have been been published on The Chained Muse, Imaginative Conservative, Society of Classical Poets and his volume of poetry, compiling over 20 years of composition is entitled “Voices on the Wind" available here:
amazon.com/Voices-Wind-Poems-Daniel-Leach/dp/1074204778
