“A penny for your thoughts”–what would be worth
Galileo’s, telescope turned to the moon,
First man to see night’s rival of the noon
So magnified! Did he exclaim in mirth
In mighty triumph? Did a sudden dearth
Of words completely claim him? Did the boon
Of seeing first the startling moonscape, soon
Sweep him, for several heartbeats, off the earth?
I see him there, his eager knowing gaze
Fixed on the craters and upon the seas;
He watched the terminator show the maze
Of mountains, or perhaps Cleomedes.
I think reaction took him in its spell
To where he sat back, sighed, and uttered “Well!”
by Ray Romine Monday, August 27, 1951
