Ontology for Kids

Maybe there's an elephant in the room,
I used to tell them,
one that you can't see or touch or smell
that no one can know about 
in any way
except for the fact I say
it may be there.

They grasped it was a joke
some fatherly nonsense
and they laughed
and wondered why I went on so.

I hoped that many years hence,
when the same idea came before them
in rather more noumenal guise,
it wouldn't be such a surprise,
and they would be immunized.