METAPHYSICS

by: Oliver Herford (1863-1935)

HY and Wherefore set out one day

To hunt for a wild Negation.

They agreed to meet at a cool retreat

On the Point of Interrogation.

 

But the night was dark and they missed their mark,

And, driven well-nigh to distraction,

They lost their ways in a murky maze

Of utter abstruse abstraction.

 

Then they took a boat and were soon afloat

On a sea of Speculation,

But the sea grew rough, and their boat, though tough,

Was split into an Equation.

 

As they floundered about in the waves of doubt

Rose a fearful Hypothesis,

Who gibbered with glee as they sank in the sea,

And the last they saw was this:

 

On a rock-bound reef of Unbelief

There sat the wild Negation;

Then they sank once more and were washed ashore

At the Point of Interrogation.