SALT ON A BIRD’S TAIL

“He went to catch a dicky bird,

And thought he could not fail,

Because he had a little salt,

To put upon its tail.”

— Simple Simon

The Scientific Method doubts itself

and runs experiments designed to fail —

run once, or twice or all the way to twelfth,

at least so far as funding can prevail.

It’s just to test assumptions

Science acts

to prove the things we’ve guessed at all along,

and, since we take too many things for facts,

it shakes our balance,

when it shows we’re wrong,

but wrong and right get undermined by truth –

the bottom line that Science always seeks,

oblivious to the accepted couth

or notions,

when curiosity peaks.

It’s narcissistic,

obsessed with its care

and our best guide

to within or out there.