Necessity and Choice Always Prevail

He could have picked up

What he called the water-stopper

There in the white sink

Either by the little ring

Higher than the rest of the water-stopper;

Or by the round part in rubber,

Lower than the ring.

This he would do by

Applying thumb and third finger

Courageously, firmly and simultaneously

To the rubber in roundness of the water-stopper.

There is a choice about how to lift a water-stopper of this kind.

There is choice in the world.

II

However, if the ring has gone from the rubber of the water-stopper,

And you lift the water-stopper for some reason,

With ring gone—

You want to lift it perhaps, even, to throw it away,

There is no choice.

You have to lift it by the roundness in rubber.

III

Necessity then prevails.

Necessity and choice always prevail.