2 NOVEMBER 1951, Page 13

Anti-Philosophy

PHILOSOPHY still travels far, Embracing earth and perished star.

Within the thought, the cell, the grain, Resides the universal brain.

This is a time when words are things Not words. Still philosophy rings The same cracked tune of verbal thought— First or final cause, all or nought.

Let not new schoolmen mock you now With knowledge of the why and how. Leave meaning alone: the mind drowns In the inane of abstract nouns.

As for me, who wait for the years, Not the mind's laboured piety But the heart's quick unreason cheers The knowledge of mortality.

R. D. CHARQUES.