Side by Side 26 -
Curiosity

Wednesday,
November 05, 2008

7:05 PM

Curiosity

may have
killed the cat; more likely

the cat
was just unlucky, or else curious

to see what death was like,
having no cause

to go on
licking paws, or fathering

litter on
litter of kittens, predictably. No point in life

Nevertheless,
to be curious

is dangerous enough. To distrust

what is always said, what
seems

to ask odd
questions, interfere in dreams,

leave
home, smell rats, have hunches

do not
endear cats to those doggy circles

where
well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches

are the
order of things, and where prevails

much
wagging of incurious heads and tails.

Face it. Curiosity

will not cause us to die—not unless we stick finger in electric outlet

Mythbusters
test stuff all of the time – remain safe (though they know safety techniques)

only lack of it
will.

Never to
want to see

the other
side of the hill

or that
improbable country

where
living is an idyll

(although
a probable hell)

would kill us all. We would not have the discoveries we have today

Only the curious have, if they
live, a tale

worth telling at all.

Dogs say
cats love too much, are irresponsible,

are
changeable, marry too many wives,

desert
their children, chill all dinner tables

with tales
of their nine lives.

Well, they
are lucky. Let them be

nine-lived and contradictory,

curious enough to change,
prepared to pay

the cat
price, which is to die

and die
again and again,

each time
with no less pain.

A cat
minority of one

is all
that can be counted on

to tell
the truth. And what cats have to tell

on each
return from hell

is this: that dying is what the living do,

that dying
is what the loving do,

and that dead dogs are those who do
not know

that dying
is what, to live, each has to do.

Alastair
Reed

Curiosity
of Ulysses

Evil
counselors

Ulysses commanded men to join him to journey around earth

Always wanted more adventure

Alastair
presents a very interesting argument about how curiosity drives our passions.
Without the relentless search for new innovations and ideas we would probably
be dead – knocked off the evolutionary food chain. Plus, Ulysses’ men knew that
this was a dangerous mission – so I doubt he was an evil counselor.

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Side by Side 26 -
Curiosity

Wednesday,
November 05, 2008

7:05 PM

Curiosity

may have
killed the cat; more likely

the cat
was just unlucky, or else curious

to see what death was like,
having no cause

to go on
licking paws, or fathering

litter on
litter of kittens, predictably. No point in life

Nevertheless,
to be curious

is dangerous enough. To distrust

what is always said, what
seems

to ask odd
questions, interfere in dreams,

leave
home, smell rats, have hunches

do not
endear cats to those doggy circles

where
well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches

are the
order of things, and where prevails

much
wagging of incurious heads and tails.

Face it. Curiosity

will not cause us to die—not unless we stick finger in electric outlet

Mythbusters
test stuff all of the time – remain safe (though they know safety techniques)

only lack of it
will.

Never to
want to see

the other
side of the hill

or that
improbable country

where
living is an idyll

(although
a probable hell)

would kill us all. We would not have the discoveries we have today

Only the curious have, if they
live, a tale

worth telling at all.

Dogs say
cats love too much, are irresponsible,

are
changeable, marry too many wives,

desert
their children, chill all dinner tables

with tales
of their nine lives.

Well, they
are lucky. Let them be

nine-lived and contradictory,

curious enough to change,
prepared to pay

the cat
price, which is to die

and die
again and again,

each time
with no less pain.

A cat
minority of one

is all
that can be counted on

to tell
the truth. And what cats have to tell

on each
return from hell

is this: that dying is what the living do,

that dying
is what the loving do,

and that dead dogs are those who do
not know

that dying
is what, to live, each has to do.

Alastair
Reed

Curiosity
of Ulysses

Evil
counselors

Ulysses commanded men to join him to journey around earth

Always wanted more adventure

Alastair
presents a very interesting argument about how curiosity drives our passions.
Without the relentless search for new innovations and ideas we would probably
be dead – knocked off the evolutionary food chain. Plus, Ulysses’ men knew that
this was a dangerous mission – so I doubt he was an evil counselor.

Pasted
from <file:///G:\English\Dante\02-Side%20by%20Side%20Journal%2026%20Curiosity.doc>