Is life this glass half full
Or half-empty?
Can we surmise from this riddle
An outlook that faithfully
represents reality?

To this, I say:
The glass and the water in it:
Both of them, matter
This we scientifically intuit
As composed of swirling particles
fleeting seemingly forever
In a dazzling quantum dance
It welcomes randomness,
enigma and chance

Mere objects subject
to rigid physical laws
Simplicity: the primary rule
From which we base
theoretical understanding
or risk becoming the fool.

And from this knowledge
beauty reveals itself
And agony and happiness
Both complicit to this
wonderful strangeness
For such is the magic that flows
from Chaos and Order
A blatant mistake it is
to reject one for the other.

Thus everything comes full circle
Positive appreciation cannot
exist without its negation.

Life is indeed a glass
half-full and half-empty
The world is truly a cruel place
Abounding with beauty.