“
…fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while…
and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity
but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself
archy
— don marquis’s “the lesson of the moth” by archy
