The Quest with a Question; or Adam Bombs, a poem and illustration by Leo Hartshorn

Adam questioned the origin of the universe
the stars, the planets, but it gets worse.

Adam questioned the animals, the air, and the trees.
I extinctly remember when he questioned the seas.

Adam questioned mankind and womankind too;
their bodies, their babies, nothing would he eschew.

Adam questioned conventions, customs, cultures,
political, economical, and societal structures.

Adam questioned religion, ethics, and such;
metaphysics and mystics---he thought out of touch.

Adam questioned anthropology, psychology, philosophy,
ontology, epistemology, phenomenology, eschatology.

Adam questioned Epicureanism, Stoicism, androcentrism;
then he turned to aestheticism, asceticism and solipsism.

Adam questioned all questions that entered his thoughts;
where, when, what, why, how, ifs, ands, buts, shoulds and oughts.

Adam stopped a split second....I took him for dead,
until a queer question mushroomed from his head.

Adam questioned the electron, proton and neutron....

Adam questioned atom....For God's sake! He's gone.