Like a Voice from the Cave of Delphi
“S[ocrates; known as Suqrat in Muslim literature] professes to be dismayed to find that the
poets whom he questioned were quite incapable of explaining the meaning of their poetry,
and concludes that they compose not wisdom … but by a kind of instinct and inspiration …
[function] like seers.” ~ Penelope Murray, Plato on Poetry, 10
When Suqrat bothered to get serious
About the poets, he began to ask
Them to explain their lines. Imperious
As always Plato took them all to task
Because they could not tell him clearly all
Their poems’ meant. He wanted them to be
Logicians, more like him. His high-class drawl
Undoubtedly removed their clarity.
He felt their ambiguity of thought
Was pitiful. Instead of musing, “Wait.
Perhaps that is the point,” the “thinker” ought
To have decided not to castigate
Them for their fuzzy inability,
Much better than his own sterility.