Jean-Léon Gérôme, Armed with Her Whip, Truth Emerges from the Pit to Chastize Humanity (La Vérité sortant du puits armée de son martinet pour châtier l’humanité [1896])
“We know her not, for truth lies deep.”—Democritus*
But love her well!
You cannot tell
When she’ll emerge—
Always, ever?
Perhaps though never?
Don’t be too clever—
You’ll feel her scourge!
*Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Thoughts of the Renowned Philosophers (3rd century CE); https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_Laertius#Lives_and_Opinions_of_Eminent_Philosophers. “We actually know zip, for the truth lies deep” (ἐτεῇ δὲ οὐδὲν ἴδμεν: ἐν βυθῷ γὰρ ἡ ἀλήθεια).
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