In my old curiosity shop,
Is the cat who thought, one day, he'd hop,
In a manner quite neat,
Out there into the street,
To see if that big truck would stop.

From this box here, is where that Pandora,
Released pain and trouble and war-a,
But left us with hope,
Which has helped us to cope,
With famine, disease and much horror.

And here, though it's only the core,
Is the apple that started it all,
It was curious Eve,
That the serpenrt deceived,
Which brought on mankind's first fall.

But it isn't all gloom, let me say,
*This* apple's what set on the way,
I. Newton's creation,
All about gravitation,
Without which, we'd all float away.

And look here, this mold's penicillin.
Not long ago bugs were a-killin',
But Fleming was nosy,
Now everything's rosy,
That stuff's saved the life of a million.

There's a phone, a TV and a chip,
A car and a plane and a ship,
Some inventions start wars,
But we'll reach for the stars,
'Cos someone, somewhere, says "What if..."

Monday, November 25, 2002