(A playful illogical exercise in logic)[1]
Ole Mother Hubbard
went out to her cupboard_
and found Cat meowing there.
It jumped down quite frightened
and then was delightened
to find its old Mistress
off’ring a dare! 7
“It’s not ‘what it ought’
but ‘what it’s not_’
that keeps me declining here;
The cat keeps on playing
but I say its fraying
the yarn of my d.o.c!”[2]
—So Cat leapt out of the room! 6
Odd as it may seem_
Cat’s now down by the stream,
though ol’ Mother Hubbard
hears it back in her cupboard!
“Logic would tell me
that Cat cannot be_
in two places at one time!”
— thus she declared her conclusion! 5
So she gave up a rhyme
and laid down her line
upon some theory of knowledge.
But it did her no good
so we really now should
make an end of this nonsense!
“Cat’s not in the Cupboard – d.o.c.” 4
But when ole Mother Hubbard
went to her cupboard
and opened it forth‑with,
out jumped her strange kitty
— looking quite pretty —
with bangles in her mind’s eaves!
“Say, Cat_ what means this?” 3
Twee‑diddle dum dee_
The Cat will set you free
of Logic’s girdle and midden!
Hey‑drum‑drums, Poetry comes_
granting Mind its Liberty! 2
Sing a song of illogical cats
a’meowing in the cupboard,
while four and twenty doubts
cast a spell o’er ol’ Mother Hubbard!
And when the cupboard was opened
her syllogism laughed and cried_
Now isn’t this an awful end –
so the logic laid down and died! 1
Nema!
[1] Originally published in Tales from the Seasons (Authorhouse 2008), it was penned in the early 1980’s when I was in the throes of my initial studies in philosophy! _Does it show? It was one of those poems that sprung forth fully formed after a class and I’ve only ever altered a word or two!
[2] d.o.c. – means “Declaration of Conclusion” in symbolic logic.
