A Pound of Feathers

In second grade, someone posed the riddle:
Which was the heavier: a pound of lead,
Or a pound of feathers? With no middle
Choice left, anyone with a practical head
Declared himself for the weight of metal,
Which had, at least, the feel of solid logic,
Though the more cynical came to settle
On eider, guessing that it was all a trick.
But those who argued the two were the same
Were hounded as show-offs and worse was done
To girls who tried to get into the game.
We would allow two sides to each question;
Which one you chose didn’t matter much to us,
But not choosing sides — that was dangerous.

Christopher Bullard

Peacock Profile, John Small