Elephants....

We have this old book of poems called, The best Loved Poems of the American People that I love to read! There are such gems in here!!! So, some of these are going to frequent my blog.... Hope you like them! (because if you don't....well, I'm going to post them anyway! :)

The Six Blind Men and the Elephant

It was six men on Indostan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each my observation

Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the elephant,

And, happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl:

"God bless me! but the elephant

Is nothing but a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried: "Ho! what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me 'tis mighty clear

This wonder of an elephant

Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,

And, happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,

Thus boldly up and spake:

"I see," quoth he, "the elephant

Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,

and felt about his knee:

"What most this wondrous beast is like

Is mighty plan," quoth he;

" 'Tis clear enough the elephant

Is very like a tree."

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said" "E'en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;

Deny the fact who can,

This marvel of an elephant

Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope,

Than, seizing on the swinging tail

That fell within his scope,

"I see," quoth he, "the elephant

Is very like a rope!'

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeded stiff and strong,

Though each was rightly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!

So, oft in theologic wars

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on is utter ignorance

Of what each other mean,

And prate about an elephant

Not one of them has seen!

~John Godfrey Saxe