Kairos

Who are you?
I am Kairos, master of all.

Why do you run on tiptoe?
I am Kairos, ever-running.

Why are your feet winged?
Because I fly like the wind.

Why do you hold a knife in your hand?
To remind men that sharper than the sharpest blade am I.

And why does your hair hang down into your face?
For him who meets me to grasp me by the forelock.

Then why is the back of your head bald?
Because when once on winged feet I have raced past, none that I have passed shall grasp me.

Why did the artist create you?
For your sake, stranger, that I might teach you lessons.

-- The poet Poseidippus, epigram from a statue of Kairos, god of the moment and of opportunity.