I was still feeding when the book was shut, I was reading!! Is that what the fly was thinking to itself, it got stuck at 'quibbling', the least appealing word in a book on problems of philosophy. Were you attracted to the two b's I'm sorry, I didn't notice you But you died by the words of a profound thinker He'd have been proud to know you landed on Philonous' dialogue with Hylas. I'm sorry, I didn't see you fly by you didn't die, in my mind. But it is your mind that matters if you were paying attention to Philonous. You were most certainly a fruit fly sorry I squished you were you after the fruit of wisdom I tried to flick you, but you stayed stuck I admire you for sticking by words You mean something to me, now that you are dead, I think. But that means you are alive in my mind This is an ode to you the wisest of flies You ate the fruit, that hides in plain sight humans are flies are humans we seek the fruit that diminishes gives us the feeling it nourishes not the fruit that grows when it falls its the fruit of knowledge you sought this is an ode to you fly and fruit you sought.
I was re-reading one of my favorite books by the awesome logician, philosopher, Nobel-laureate Bertrand Russell, 'Problems of Philosophy', When I opened a page, I saw a dead fly, poor guy had gotten stuckbetween the pages. This is in a chapter where Bertrand discusses the nature of matter and how we perceive it through our mind, references Berkeley's 'Three dialogues between Philonous and Hylas'. The fly was my inspiration for this short poem.