Once upon a time

I met a man named Death

He was a funny fellow,

Though he did have a dark sense of humour

One day I was talking to Death

And he asked me if I ever thought of going to another world

Well, I thought on this

And I answered “All the time,”

This seemed to content Death,

But I did not stop there

“You see,” I continued,

“There must be other worlds out there,

Simply because we believe in them.

Now there are others like myself

Who live in another world every day.

So, you see Death, perhaps I above all

Know what it means to believe.”

Death thought on this,

And he answered,

“But what if I do not believe in thine world,

And I cometh to take thee to mine.

What wouldst thou say to that?”

I merely shrugged, replying,

“You would fail.

I do not believe in your world,

Only in mine own,

And therefore in your arrogance

You would only speedily rush me

To my desires, and not to your own.”

Death thought some more,

Obviously perplexed by my arguments,

And at length he said,

“What if, if in mine own departure,

I wouldst take thou with me,

So that both of us together

Wouldst ascend to mine own world,

And not to thine.

What dost thou say to that?”

This caused me to think for a mite,

But after a little bit of introspection, my answer was,

“In attempting to take me to your world,

And in bringing me with you,

You have violated the very concept of believing,

And therefore it is quite impossible.”

This time Death did not pause before he answered:

“But what if what thou dost believe

Is false?”

“Well,” I answered, “I believe in it,

So to me, it will never be false.

To you, always, but to me, never.”

Death seemed almost defeated,

But then his face brightened as he thought of one thing more.

“What if I procured proof of mine own beliefs,

And consequently,

Falsifying thine?”

This caused me much contemplation on the matter,

And more than once I opened my mouth to speak

Yet could not formulate the words to defeat him.

After more trepidation and reflection on my self,

I finally came up with an answer that seemed to satisfy

Both of us.

The devilish look on my comrade appeared eager to hear my answer,

That he could refute it and triumph victorious.

I placed a smug look on my features

(Which did much to disquiet my companion)

And relayed my answer to him.

“It could not falsify anything, in actuality.

Yes, it would prove of your own beliefs,

But that in itself does not disprove any other’s beliefs.

If you told me that your proof

Confirmed that my beliefs were incorrect,

Then I would reply to you that

My world exists completely independent of yours.

In saying this,

It establishes the fact that no proof can exist in your world

That can either prove or disprove the existence of mine.

Likewise, that would mean I could never falsify the existence

Of your world.”

Death looked upon me then,

Not with hatred or vengeance,

But with respect.

He thought of his own world,

And then nodded his accord and simply replied,

“I depart thee now, noble adversary.”

I watched him walk away,

And I watched the transformation come over him

That he would in his own world.

This caused me some thought,

And at present I laughed, and turned,

And rode away on the zephyr of dragons.