What, Why, How?

What makes us want to live?

What is it that makes us tick?

Striving through sickness and sorrow

E’en if only for a bleaker tomorrow

Why are we so keen to keep going,

even after life becomes harrowing?

What is the motive force,

that keeps us all on course?

Why do we want to go on?

What is it we seek to learn?

Is it our burning need to know

The shape and form of tomorrow?

When we think of death,

what is it that makes us ache?

Non being, or not knowing

what path reality will take?

Of the possibilities so many,

which ones will come to be,

and which will be discarded,

as time marches on ahead?

We are curious beings,

defined by our need to know,

be it about, how the cosmos works,

or the gossip from next door

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it is what keeps us alive and driven.

I bet this poem makes Nina really happy, and as a bonus, I bet it annoys Nana. If you are the curious type, be sure to check out the Nina and Nana series, where a peppy little girl and her grumpy grandpa banter about curiously astonishing facts, from a variety of subjects including, science, math, history, ecology, literature, cuisines, art, mythology and so much more. Prepare to be amused, fascinated and awestruck!