Gustave Doré - Beatrice and Dante

A MENSA member remembers the Commedia

The highly intelligent member
of the society
sits on his bed,
holding his shoe in one hand.
His right leg is crossed over his left,
and he wriggles his toes in his sock.

He is trying to understand
how his brain is able
to work out that his shoe
must fit over his foot,
how his brain determines
that his shoe is not meant for his hand,
or perhaps his head.

The member is discombobulated
and rather frustrated;
his foot is getting cold
and he hasn’t found a solution yet.

His wife walks in,
takes the shoe and puts in on his foot.
Now tie the laces, she says.
It all ties in, the member muses:
Dante was right about women,
heaven would be boring without them.

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