The verse competition has stimulated a lot of discussion, much of it off topic on the need for a universal language. There is another tangent that should be explored, the classical themes expressed in dial mottos. One common theme is the unrelenting progress of time through life, death and judgement. "Tempus Fugit" and "Sicut umbra dies nostri" are examples in the original universal language, Latin. My personal favourite on this theme is from the climactic scene of Macbeth, "Life's but a walking shadow".
This classical theme needs to be interpreted in modern language, unconstrained by the classical forms of poetry. I propose the following free verse couplet in the American vernacular (grunge slang). "Life sucks, And then you die" I apologize that this verse also suffers in translation. Such a motto needs an appropriate dial. Picture a sundial painted by Salvador Dali, the dial face melted into a vertical and horizontal planes. The gnomon could be a scythe, gun or other other weapon of man's destruction. It is important that we translate these classical themes of art, science and literature of sundial design into this modern age of technology and chaos. Right ;-) Roger Bailey
