Socrates And The Doctorate Tease Poem by gershon hepner

SOCRATES AND THE DOCTORATE TEASE


There was an old man to whom Socrates
appealed, though he followed Hippocrates.
When they said: “We condemn. Lock
him up, give him hemlock! ”
he swallowed, a doctorate tease.

Inspired by an e-mail correspondence with Marty Lockshin. When I told him that I had rebutted an argument by a renowned local ba’al qore linguist on the grounds that it was based on philological fundamentalism who simply didn’t understand the power of verbal resonances he accused me of corrupting the young. When I asked whether that meant he thought I should swallow hemlock he replied: “No. I disagree with that verdict.”

4/20/09