Seth Simons

The Symposium

Time is a horsefly’s dream,

    said the drunk.

Where the watchman 

does not look

he cannot see,

    said the thief.

One man could mean anything. 

Ten thousand men mean one thing,

    said the major general.

The light, the light!

    said the moth.

Every day is a good day, 

    said the arsonist.

Every day is a bad day, 

    said the moderate.

A day is enough,

    said the mayfly.

Better a big cage

than a small one,

    said the collaborator. 

Maybe madness

has a point,

    said reason.

Any distance 

can be traveled

only some 

can be crossed,

    said the ferryman.

Man seeks 

what he wants 

and takes it,

    said the profiteer.

Man gets

what he seeks

and wants it,

    said the ascetic.

The end 

is near!

    said the raindrop. 

A door 

has two entrances

and two exits,

    said the salesman.

Absence of evidence

is not evidence of absence,

   said the empiricist.

Evidence

is not evidence,

    said the conspiracist.

Absence

is not absence,

    said the optimist.

Shadow?

What’s a shadow?

    said the sun.

I grieve 

for my friend 

the tree,

    said the bookbinder.

I have known fullness

and prefer hunger,

    said the garbage can.

Life is a gift,

    said the war criminal.

Life is a gift,

    said the sacrifice.

Life is a gift,

    said the farmhand.

Life is a gift,

    said the tapeworm.

Anywhere is better than here, 

    said the fugitive.

What do I pray for today?

Only what I prayed for yesterday,

    said the priest. 

The leaves 

on the ground

will soon be

with the leaves 

on the tree,

    said autumn.