a story of the search                       
                       what is life? i asked                       
                       the stars up in their                       
                       lofty thrones (surely                       
                       they must know, since                       
                       everything is visible                       
                       from such a viewpoint                       
                       as they have, i said)                       
                       but they didn't reply                       
to my question. instead, they simply turned around in their eternal
orbits and ignored me. so then i consulted the planets around them,
asking them my question: what is life? (surely they, close to earth
yet high above, would know what this is all about, i said to myself
as i shouted out my questions to those wonderful orbs in space) but
like the stars, the planets were silent, and my question again went
unanswered. so instead of consulting with the great galactic globes
i used a smaller scale, and looked into a flawless sphere of finest
crystal, and i repeated my oft-asked inquiry: what is life? (for if
a ball as perfect as the one i hold in my hand doesn't know, surely
                       this answer is not to                       
                       be had!) still, all i                       
                       got for my effort was                       
                       a distorted view of a                       
                       hand and a dirty lump                       
                       of glass. then i came                       
                       to the realization of                       
                       a brilliant idea: the                       
                       answer to my question                       
                       lay inside me! (for i                       
                       am alive, and my life                       
                       will be the answer to                       
                       any question asked if                       
                       i only look deep into                       
                       my being) so i looked                       
                       deep within myself to                       
                       find the answer to my                       
                       desperate query: what                       
                       is life? but sadly, i                       
                       found that i was even                       
                       emptier than the ball                       
                       of crystal, the stars                       
                       above, and even those                       
                       gaseous planets. so i                       
                       began to despair that                       
                       i would never be able                       
                       to know the solution,                       
                       when a man came to me                       
                       and asked me: what is                       
                       your question? and so                       
                       i said: what is life?                       
                       and he smiled, and as                       
                       he smiled, he said to                       
                       me: that would be me.