Sunday, March 14, 2021

DEMOCRITUS’ APPLE - H. S. SHIVA PRAKASH'S "DEMOCRITUS-NA SEBU" ದೆಮಾಕ್ರಿತೂಸ್-ನ ಸೇಬು

Kannada original: Democritus-na Sebu ದೆಮಾಕ್ರಿತೂಸ್-ನ ಸೇಬು

Poet: H. S. Shiva Prakash

Translated into English by S. Jayasrinivasa Rao

 

DEMOCRITUS’ APPLE

 

B. C. 600 – in the island of Ionia

 

Born-philosopher Democritus

held an apple in his hand

and contemplated it unremittingly,

“How many pieces can be made out of this apple?

What could be the number of these pieces?

Would that number be finite or infinite?”

He went on searching for a solution 

to this inestimable problem.

He failed to find a solution

and when he died, he hadn’t 

tasted any fruit at all.

 

His story continues – in the court of Zeus in Olympus

 

Immersed in this problem

as Democritus arrived there,

the thunderbolt-wielding Zeus shouted –

“Throw this fool out!”

 

To the philosopher who was so stunned

that he couldn’t even ask why,

Zeus again thundered:

“You fool, the apple is not for contemplation,

it is for eating.”

 

*****


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