Brief thoughts on exactness.
Fish move exactly there and exactly then,
just as birds have their in-built exact measure
of time and place.
But mankind, deprived of instinct,
is aided by a scientific research, the essence
of which this story shows.
A certain soldier had to fire a gun every evening
exactly at 6:00.
He did it like a soldier.
When his exactness was checked, he
stated, "I follow an absolutely precise chronometer
in the shop window of the clockmaker downtown.
Every day at 17:45, I set my watch by it
and proceed up the hill where the gun stands ready.
At 17:59 exactly, I ready the gun.
And exactly at 18:00 hours, I fire."
It was found that this method of firing was absolutely exact.
There was only the chronometer to be checked.
The clockmaker downtown was asked about its exactness.
"Oh," said the clockmaker, "this instrument
is one of the most exact.
Imagine, for years a gun has been fired here
at 6:00 exactly.
And every day I look at the chronometer
and always it shows exactly 6:00."
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
So much for exactness.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
And the fish move in the waters and the heavens
are filled with the murmur of wings
while the chronometers tick and guns thunder.