How to Recognize a Rule

A rule is porous. A rule
Is a mock fact. A rule is
A pseudo fact. A rule has

Exceptions and may not hold.
A rule is as a sweat bee,
As a stick insect to sticks,

As a leaf insect to leaves.
As a bird dung crab spider
To bird dung flies is a rule.

A rule may be unobserved,
So well does it resemble
Certain facts. As certain facts—

Day’s end, daybreak, the phases
Of the moon—resemble rules
But are inflexible facts

That are facts, in fact, because
They lack exceptions, and aren’t
Just like rules--rules are like that.