The unknown unknown unknown gnomes

·       As we know, There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know, there are known unknowns, that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we do not know we do not know.

·       Donald Rumsfeld, Department of Defense news briefing, 12 February 2002.

We don’t have to worry about

The known gnomes,

We can survey them from

The windows of our homes,

And, giving our net curtains

A discreet twitch

Check that they continue to

Smile and fish

As they dutifully sit

Adorning corners of our lawns.

And as to those unknown gnomes,

there are those that are within our ken

and we don’t need to worry about them

because all they do, is sit and wait

packed in boxes or contained in crates

they won’t leap into action

but will, when asked,

come out to perform their gnomic tasks.

But it could be that there still remain,

Unknown gnomes who are unknown

Living, perhaps on distant plains

Or residing in places we do not know

Up on windswept high plateaux,

Or sharing lairs

With undiscovered Himalayan bears

It is these little men we fear

Because we are not sure if they are there.

They may lurk away in the dark

Discernable only by strange enigmatic marks

And possible suggestive signs

That it could be that they leave behind,

To cloud the corners of our minds.

With puzzles that we cannot solve

Like why are they? And who are they?

And what could be the strange genome?

Of the unknown unknown unknown gnomes