The Sonneteer's History of Philosophy

Extract

Thales believed that everything is water:

A far from foolish thesis when you think

That your best vintage claret, Indian ink,

The knees of politicians, Pharaoh's daughter

The brains of all the nincompoops who court her,

The mouse, the tiger and the bobolink

(One must perhaps except the kitchen sink)

Are all, white-coated analysts report, a

Good seventy-five per centum aqua pura.

In any case, Creation's primal stuff,

The mixture for the Eternal Cook's plum duff,

Is likelier to be something that can cure a

Thirst, or the smell that emanates from barges,

Than a barn dance of low electric charges.