Tractatus Logico Philosophicus

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher & Logician, 1889-1951
Photo by Ben Richards

the young man
declared
atomic facts exist
each a state of affairs
whose logical thought
is pictured by language
in truthbearing form
dumbing down metaphysics
allowing to operate
nands upon fixed
mathematical sense
to shut down and out
noisy nonsense

and yet…

the old man
refuted his youth
declaring philosophy
is after all
mere scientistic
linguistic illusion
ill-equipped
for a priori
discovery

and so…

never before
and not again since
has such utterly
self-repudiant
impulse
so violently veered
a transcendent vehicle
carrying consummate
brilliance of mind
into wastelands of
quarantined intellect