Twenty Questions

Credit: Gerd Altmann @ Pixabay

Why did the moth fly into the flame? Was it for the same reason 

That Achilles died young? Who gets more fun out of sex,

The man or the woman? (Be sure to explain how you can tell.)

Which is more real to you, heaven or hell?

Why do sinners’ ways prosper? What causes the death of love—

The love of death? Did Adam and Eve have a choice?

Did the Virgin Mary? What are we afraid of, anyway?

Even agnostics have the right to say “thank god,” don’t they?

Looking at these dancing atoms, shall I say I saw a ring

Of pure and endless light? Or did I dream the whole thing?

Whom shall I say is calling? Are you in if it’s your wife?

Are you willing to relocate? Do you like your life?

What makes this night different from all other nights?

Would you say it’s your fate to be always,

Without exception, five minutes late? If you arrived

At 9:10, would the ceremony have started at 9:05

Though it had been scheduled for 9:15? As you walk down

The aisle, and the others rivet their attention to you,

Do you ask yourself what you’re going to do,

As though it mattered, as if you knew?

~ David Lehman 

I keep six honest serving-men

Source: Favim

I keep six honest serving-men:

    (They taught me all I knew)

Their names are What and Where and When

    And How and Why and Who.

I send them over land and sea,

    I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me,

    I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five.

    For I am busy then,

As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

    For they are hungry men:

But different folk have different views:

    I know a person small--

She keeps ten million serving-men,

    Who get no rest at all!

She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,

    From the second she opens her eyes--

One million Hows, two million Wheres,

    And seven million Whys!

~ Rudyard Kipling

I keep six honest serving-men

Source: Favim

I keep six honest serving-men:

    (They taught me all I knew)

Their names are What and Where and When

    And How and Why and Who.

I send them over land and sea,

    I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me,

    I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five.

    For I am busy then,

As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

    For they are hungry men:

But different folk have different views:

    I know a person small--

She keeps ten million serving-men,

    Who get no rest at all!

She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,

    From the second she opens her eyes--

One million Hows, two million Wheres,

    And seven million Whys!

~ Rudyard Kipling

The sea question

Photo credit: dee from morguefile.com

The sea asks "How is your life now?"
It does so obliquely, changing colour.
It is never the same on any two visits.

It is never the same in any particular
Only in generalities: tide and such matters
Wave height and suction, pebbles that rattle.

It doesn't presume to wear a white coat
But it questions you like a psychologist
As you walk beside it on its long couch.

~ Elizabeth Smither

The sea question

Photo credit: dee from morguefile.com

The sea asks "How is your life now?"
It does so obliquely, changing colour.
It is never the same on any two visits.

It is never the same in any particular
Only in generalities: tide and such matters
Wave height and suction, pebbles that rattle.

It doesn't presume to wear a white coat
But it questions you like a psychologist
As you walk beside it on its long couch.

~ Elizabeth Smither