Sputterpub's Blog

The ancient question is: which one came first?
The Bible says it had to be the bird,
and science argues that old bubble burst
as soon as positing a proto-hen,
not quite a chicken yet, that laid and nursed
the egg that held the gallus gallus chick.
My reasoning in general coerced
the view an egg alone would be absurd –
a parent sat before that shell dispersed.

(Magic 9)

“There’s no accounting for a person’s taste,”
is one translation of the Latin line.
“What’s liked cannot be argued” was replaced,
but neither phrase is accurate or fine.
The very best is judged by all supreme.
The worst we all agree is really poor.
It’s only when you move from each extreme
that you meet works whose merit is unsure.

The plotted line denoting quality
reveals a spectrum with a bulbous hill
containing sorts of mediocrity
and more, for us to argue good or ill.
By truly fine we all are found impressed;
the honest mind admits what work is best.

You have a choice about the rail you ride.
Ahead you see a crowd, so do you switch
to force the trolley on the shunt beside,
where one will surely die? Now tell me: which?

It doesn’t matter what or who will steer –
the answer is unpopular but clear.
You cannot choose the shunt and drive to kill.
No end can justify that act of will.

And if you complicate the question thus –
the one alone’s no person you have met;
the crowd contains your own adored cadet –
I have to say you can’t be serious.
Of course I’d spare my baby from the threat,
but that’s emotion owing reason debt.

(Pushkin Sonnet)