A REMARKABLE SET OF ORIGINAL POEMS BY A YOUNG RICHARD FEYNMAN ADDRESSING S🧔UCH TOPICS AS SCIENCE, RELIGION, 👍AND LIFE

Riꦅchard Feynman often downplayed his literary qualities and aesthetic sensibilities. However, he was a capable student in the humanities, and found lifelong joy in theater and the arts. Here we see a young Feynman trying his hand at poetry, addressing topics of both perennial and timely concern, especially with regards to science, religion, labor, and life.

In his poem, "We Are Forgetful," Feynman discusses the progress of science, the forces of evolution, and the turning away from God that science seemed to foster. Feynman was already an "avowed atheist" in his early years; as an adult, he would say, "I do not believe that a scientist can ever obtain that view — that really religious understanding, that real knowledge that there is a God — that absolute certainty which religious p♏eople have."

"Energy" recounts the cycle of work on a farm, the plowing and sowing of the fields, the growing of plants and the production of hay. As he writes, "Energy plays an important part/And its used in all this work/Energy, yes, energy with power so great/A kind that cannot shirk." Feynman ends the poem on a rueful note, with recognition that much of the energy supplied to the farm "belongs to a little brown horse."

Feynman's untitled poem beginning, "I♊ like to think that water...", two copies of which are present in this lot, addresses the similarities between the constant flow of water — directed by forces beyond its control and without willful intention — and the "stream of life," which often takes paths u🐓nintended and unchosen.

Richard Feynman's autograph poem tit🌃led "We Are Forgetful" reads, in part:

"Science is making us wander, wander far and wide; And I know, by this time, Our face we ought to hide.

[...]

Our minds are thinking of science, and science is in our ears; Our eyes are seeing science, and science is in our fears.

Yes, we're wandering from the Lord our God, away from the Holy One; But now we cannot help it, for it is already done.

Richard Feynman"