The Poverty of Our Circumstances


In sharp edged lands where many dwell

All things are true or false, and if you try,

A little thought will be enough to tell

My truth from your illusion or your lie.

 

From which it follows, as the night the day,

Since all of us have use of reason’s tools

That all who disagree with what I say

With certainty are either rogues or fools.

 

I have not found it so; the world I see

Has honest men with minds as good as mine;

I can find reasons that seem good to me

But proofs beyond dispute are hard to find.