Philosophy 101: Who Knew? Poem by Donal Mahoney

The gap between potency and act,
the scholar says, is demonstrated
by this anecdote:

A boy of 12, visiting a farm,
is given a glass of buttermilk
by the farmer's wife who tells him,

'Down the hatch, young man! '
The boy drinks the buttermilk
and almost vomits.

Decades later at a County Fair
a farmer's wife selling buttermilk
tells the boy who's now a man,

'You'll love my buttermilk! '
and offers him a glass.
He drinks the buttermilk

and vomits on her counter.
This demonstrates, the scholar says,
the gap between potency and act.