to ask questions
not to answer them;
the more unsolved problems
they have on their hands
the better they are doing their job;
the gibes of so-called practical people
completely miss the point—
when scientists give answers
it’s because philosophers
have asked the questions in the first place

to so-called practical people
a tree is a tree
and common sense is common sense
and life is such a dull prosaic affair—
the long monotonies of sunrise
the tedium of snowscape
the molestation of leaf-fall in autumn
the dull clinging of sand after sea-bathing

but consider the excitement
of questions such as    —this tree…
does it continue to exist when nobody’s
here to see it?       if it does
how can I possibly know that it does?
—how can I know     (since the past
is not always a guarantee of future certainty)
that the sun will rise tomorrow

snowscape      leaf-fall    sand-cling
passing and uncollectible dubieties

(from in this day & age : Colin Blundell 2007)