A Sophist
A sophist saint in ancient Grecian land,
Said whatever he said was a falsity.
Was asked to state anything before he died,
When once he'd committed an act of crime.
He would be hanged, if tell the truth he did;
And would be beheaded if he told untruth.
Being always prepared for th'unexpected,
That to be beheaded was he, stated he.
If he was executed cutting throat,
Then that would prove that what he'd told was truth,
For which the sentence had to be hanging him,
Thereby to prove that he had told untruth,
For which again to be cut the head apart,
Or if to be hanged, is this a paradox?
So thinking such and such the Judges swoon'd,
And asked the Saint to step out from the Court.
Thus neither to be beheaded or be hanged,
He roamed the country side and forest land.
The ancient Sophist saints of Greece were exceptionally clever with the use of their tongues. Don't play with them; they can bind us cunningly with their tongues. And don't corner them; we will never forget what we get in retaliation. Here in this poem, one such sophist saint is being tried in Court for a crime when the Judges get stung. The classical sophists were well-versed in paradoxes. The Judges in the Trial Court fail in understanding the real meaning of what the saint said.
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