Well, I think I'll read this one.
It's a short one, because maybe this is
sort of appropriate to go here.
It's called "The Childhood of Parmenides."
And Parmenides is the Socratic Greek philosopher
who asked that question, why is there
something rather than nothing?
And when I heard this when I was, I don't know,
18 years old, I thought, what a question.
[LAUGHTER]
And then, later on, then I was thinking, like,
under what circumstances did this occurr to him?
I was trying to imagine what led to this, because we
know nothing, less than nothing about Parmenides.
Most things about his life are obscure, just fragments left.
So many years later I kind of one day
just sort of realized that among all the possible life
situations that this must be the way it happened, so to speak.
And I'm sure it is the way it happened.
It's a very short poem, actually.
For asking, why is there something rather than nothing,
the schoolmaster sends the little punk
to see the principal.
[LAUGHTER]
Unfortunately, they haven't got one yet.
There is only King Minos in his labyrinth, and of course
Philemon, who is about to die laughing
at the sight of an ass eating figs.