06.05.2009, 06:08
GALILEO TO THE GRAND-DUCHESS
OF TUSCANY.
Lady, whose gracious intellect could divine,
Long since, the organic powers that guide the sphere ;
And sometimes deigned to express the love, and fear,
Such themes can kindle in a heart like thine ;
Again that thunder fierce and leonine
Rolls through the twilight on my wakeful ear ;
Again the sacerdotal voice I hear,
Banning the truth, as if 'twere man's design :
Aye, as if with my own hand I could plant
Those things within the heavens, to disturb
Nature, and science, from their path serene;
But in bis might comes Time, the hierophant ;
And never shall another Joshua curb
The sun's due course, till the last day hath been.
OF TUSCANY.
Lady, whose gracious intellect could divine,
Long since, the organic powers that guide the sphere ;
And sometimes deigned to express the love, and fear,
Such themes can kindle in a heart like thine ;
Again that thunder fierce and leonine
Rolls through the twilight on my wakeful ear ;
Again the sacerdotal voice I hear,
Banning the truth, as if 'twere man's design :
Aye, as if with my own hand I could plant
Those things within the heavens, to disturb
Nature, and science, from their path serene;
But in bis might comes Time, the hierophant ;
And never shall another Joshua curb
The sun's due course, till the last day hath been.