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You May Strike But Hear Me First

start with a
board of
premises

sound premises
facts verified by all
the senses
possible

look around
stretch your hand
then if you are definite
that no harm
is potential

jump then
into conclusions

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Disastrous Fire at Scarborough

'Twas in the year of 1898, and on the 8th of June,
A mother and six children met with a cruel doom
In one of the most fearful fires for some years past
And as the spectators gazed upon them they stood aghast

The fire broke out in a hairdresser's, in the town of Scarborough,
And as the fire spread it filled the people's hearts with sorrow;
But the police and the fire brigade were soon on the ground,
Then the hose and reel were quickly sent round.

Oh! it was horrible to see the flames leaping up all around,
While amongst the spectators the silence was profound,
As they saw a men climb out to the parapet high,
Resolved to save his life, or in the attempt to die!

And he gave one half frantic leap, with his heart full of woe,
And came down upon the roof of a public-house 20 feet below;
But, alas! he slipped and fell through the skylight,
And received cuts and bruises: oh, what a horrible sight!

[...] Read more

poem by William Topaz McGonagall
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That There Dog O' Mine

Macquarie the shearer had met with an accident. To tell the truth, he had been in a drunken row at a wayside shanty, from which he had escaped with three fractured ribs, a cracked head, and various minor abrasions. His dog, Tally, had been a sober but savage participator in the drunken row, and had escaped with a broken leg.

Macquarie afterwards shouldered his swag and staggered and struggled along the track ten miles to the Union-Town Hospital. Lord knows how he did it. He didn't exactly know himself. Tally limped behind all the way on three legs. The doctors examined the man's injuries and were surprised at his endurance.

Even doctors are surprised sometimes - though they don't always show it. Of course they would take him in, but they objected to Tally. Dogs were not allowed on the premises. 'You will have to turn that dog out,' they said to the shearer, as he sat on the edge of a bed.

Macquarie said nothing. 'We cannot allow dogs about the place, my man,' said the doctor in a louder tone, thinking the man was deaf. 'Tie him up in the yard then.' 'No. He must go out. Dogs are not permitted on the grounds.'

Macquarie rose slowly to his feet, shut his agony behind his set teeth painfully buttoned his shirt over his hairy chest, took up his waistcoat, and staggered to the comer where the swag lay. 'What are you going to do?' they asked.

'You ain't going to let my dog stop?' 'No. It's against the rules. There are no dogs allowed on the premises.' He stooped and lifted his swag, but the pain was too great, and he leaned back against the wall.

'Come, come now! man alive!' exclaimed the doctor, impatiently. 'You must be mad. You know you are not in a fit state to go out. Let the wardsman help you to undress.' 'No!' said Macquarie. 'No. If you won't take my dog in you don't take me. He's got a broken leg and wants fixing up just - just as much as - as I do.

If I'm good enough to come in, he's good enough - and - and better.' He paused awhile, breathing painfully, and then went on. 'That - that there old dog of mine has follered me faithful and true, these twelve long hard and hungry years. He's about - about the only thing that ever cared whether I lived or fell and rotted on the cursed track.'

He rested again; then he continued: 'That - that there dog was pupped on the track,' he said with a sad sort of smile. 'I carried him for months in a billy can and afterwards on my swag when he was knocked up… And the old slut - his mother - she'd foller along quite contented - sniff the billy now and again - just to see if he was all right… She follered me for God knows how many years. She follered me till she was blind - and for a year after. She folleredme till she could crawl along through the dust no longer, and - and then I killed her, because I couldn't leave her behind alive! '

He rested again. 'And this here old dog,' he continued, touching Tally's upturned nose with his knotted fingers, 'this here old dog has follered me for - for ten years; through floods and droughts, through fair times and - and hard - mostly hard; and kept me from going mad when I had no mate nor money on the lonely track and watched over me for weeks when I was drunk - drugged and poisoned at the cursed shanties; and saved my life more'n once, and got kicks and curses very often for thanks; and forgave me for it all; and - and fought for me.

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poem by Henry Lawson
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Questioning the ostensibly unquestionable premises of our way of life is arguably the most urgent of services we owe our fellow humans and ourselves.

Zygmunt Bauman in Globalization: The Human Consequences
Added by Simona Enache
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All proofs rest on premises.

quote by Aristotle
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Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.

quote by Samuel Butler
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Genius. To know without having learned to draw just conclusions from unknown premises to discern the soul of things.

quote by Ambrose Bierce
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Genius - to know without having learned; to draw just conclusions from unknown premises; to discern the soul of things.

quote by Ambrose Bierce
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The press, the machine, the railway, the telegraph are premises whose thousand-year conclusion no one has yet dared to draw.

quote by Friedrich Nietzsche
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Don’t exit your grave.

Don’t visit your premises
After death. You’ll be a ghost.
Don’t visit your work place
After retirement. Hold the face.
15.07.2004

poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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