If I could be a fly on Einstein’s wall
I’d buzz about from chair to curtain.
Watching him check out plans and gadgets
And scratch remarks on his papers
When the clock edged to noon his stomach would growl.
He'd stretch and fold up the prints and say,
“It’s a relatively short walk to the café.”
With Albert out I’d take the run of the place -
Practicing banks and dips and vertical lifts.
I’d munch on scraps of Brie and fowl
Left fused to the edge of his table.
When the key turned the tumblers
I’d buzz back to the wall and wait to learn
Whatever the young sage might chance to say.
He’d return to his desk to file his reports
And stack them neatly into a tray.
Without warning he’d rise straight out of his chair
Scattering papers across the floor.
“MASS AND ENERGY ARE ONE, ” he’d shout, -
“CRUSHED TOGETHER BY TIME! ”
I’d buzz and swoop and fly circles and loops
And taxi in on his collar.
I’d beat my wings to cool his brain.
But wait…Whose voice do I hear?
Oh, it’s you gentle reader.
“Stop, hold it right there, damned pest!
It couldn’t have happened that way!
Have you no shame or respect for God’s truth? ”
But I’d stare you down with my compound eye
And scornfully twitch my wings.
Consider this, troubled sir,
You’re the one scolding a talking fly.
Robert Charles Howard
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-fly-on-einstein-s-wall/
