Poem – Somnus Erat Demonstrandum (By Fern G. Z. Carr)

Somnus Erat Demonstrandum – By Fern G. Z. Carr

Transitive Property of Equality:
If a = b and b = c, then a = c.

Lessons learned from parents –

a string of pearls

of wisdom

passed on from generation

to generation,

dispensing one bead at a time

lest we become overwhelmed.

Therefore, if wisdom comes with age

and age before beauty,

then wisdom comes before beauty

(sleep):

The Transitive Property of

Parental Reason.

S.E.D. (Somnus Erat Demonstrandum)

Carpe diem vs. beauty sleep:

to slumber or not to slumber –

“Don’t sleep your life away”,

my father’s dictum

still haunts me with its irony;

having died prematurely,

he now sleeps his life away.

*Quod Erat Demonstrandum or QED is Latin for “Which was to be proved”.

It is used at the conclusion of formal math proofs. Somnus is Latin for the

word sleep.

FERN G. Z. CARR is a director of Project Literacy, lawyer, teacher and past president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She is a member of and former Poet-in-Residence for the League of Canadian Poets. Carr composes and translates poetry in five languages while currently learning Mandarin Chinese. A 2013 Pushcart Prize nominee, she has been published extensively world-wide from Finland to the Seychelles. In addition to multiple prizes and awards, honours include being cited as a contributor to the Prakalpana Literary Movement in India; her poetry having been taught at West Virginia University and set to music by a Juno-nominated musician; an online feature in The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper; and her poem, “I Am”, chosen by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate as Poem of the Month for Canada. Carr is thrilled to have one of her poems presently orbiting the planet Mars aboard NASA’S MAVEN spacecraft. www.ferngzcarr.com