Plain and Simple

 

 

What’s wrong with plain and simple?

Why is it so difficult to see?

I must confess especially these days

It is still working for me.

 

Then again, you know what they say,

As one gets older that’s all he knows,

With a mind that is becoming unreliable

That is the only way to go.

 

What is the purpose of the complex

That we cannot unravel,

That we spend wasted hours upon

As opposed to the plain and simple?

 

I am enamored with the plain and simple

Though it may appear unscholarly,

It helps to understand the complex

And helps us to see more clearly.

 

That ancient adage comes to my mind:

“We move from the known to the unknown”,

It’s the foundation for building knowledge

Like reaping where we have sown.

 

Some treat to it as though outdated

And demand a more complex approach,

No wonder we are struggling as we are

And becoming the butt of jokes.

 

Biting off more than we can chew

To impress with our scholarship,

We must at least appear to be ahead

That seems to be the current trick.

 

By the way, plain and simple is not costly

Certainly not as costly as the complex

For after trying and trying and trying again

Everybody just ends up vexed.

 

There’s one way of solving the complex

That is via the plain and simple,

For, unless the complex is broken down,

It will still present as unsolvable.

 

A whole is the sum of its parts

From Mathematics we have learned

So, how are we going to grasp that concept

If the plain and simple we spurn?

 

So plain and simple it is

And that is plain and simple for me,

The complex will always boggle my mind

Until plain and simple it comes to be.

 

What’s wrong with plain and simple?

Why is it so difficult to see?

I must confess especially these days

It is still working for me.

 

Stewart Russell © November 26, 2020