| E pur si muove Galileo, leaving court, 1633 |
E pur si muove.
"And still it moves."
And still it rises,
that same sun,
its light hardly heavens' center.
Each star, each body in the heavens,
forms its own center, so they say,
though it was not man's light, but God's
that was the center for Bruno.
And still it rose,
And it would rise when Bruno was burned,
would rise when Galileo went blind,
nestled in a rising haze.
And still also it moved.
| South Hadley, 1978-79; revised slightly, Crawfordville, 2015.) | |
| (Galileo was forced by the Inquisition to abjure his arguments that the planets revolved around the sun and not the sun around earth. Bruno refused to do so. Thanks to R.P. and to my friends at Williston Observatory -- J. S. and others -- for discussion and feedback.) |