Galileo's Gaze Poem by Denis Mair
Galileo's Gaze
When Galileo first looked at the moon through a telescope
He saw circles like intersecting ripples.
Who could know that crashing rocks had made them?
By gazing at those circular outlines he discovered
The light-facing side of each circle was edged with a dark line;
Having learned to draw, Galileo knew the look of shading,
His knowing artistic eye was able to judge:
These circles had depth... they must be craters!
At such times art and rationality go journeying together;
A man's view of craters brought the moon's condition closer:
Reason needs aesthetics to gain full awareness of the moon:
That desolation exposed to outer space, never soothed by rain,
That "Palace of Vast Coldness, " never able to incubate life, [1]
And in our lives we brush shoulders
With such bleakness countless times.
Down the river of human seeing, on shoulders of past stargazers,
People mused upon the barren companion that circles our world;
Through contrast, we became aware of our planet's marvels:
We treated that bleakness as something sacred in the cosmos;
We hung it as a mirror, for lonely hearts to think of each other;
Looking up, we could cherish our human realm all the more.
When Galileo came along; we hailed him as master observer;
He brought us a reminder of something we had already felt,
Though it was wrapped in a special kind of human mystery.
Aug.2014 [2]
Notes:
[1] 'Palace of Vast Coldness' was a phrase used by the Song-era poet Su Dongpo to describe the moon.
[2] Written after seeing the collection of Galileo's books in the Rare Books Section of the University of Oklahoma Library in Norman, Oklahoma.
Wonderful poem with a different perception. I had never thought of the marvels of our earth from such a perception. Yes, the depth of life is revealed from such contrasts. He knows by contrast the good fortune of living on earth - very true. Thank you for sharing such beautiful ideas by penning beautiful poems like this.
Even today scientists still can't answer the questions Addressed in my short piece 'Earth Physics' And human is still in the maze...
Knowledge is wholesome.Knowledge in one field may complement our knowledge in another field.Galileo.'s knowledge in art helped him to discover new facts about moon. A great poem, thanks for sharing.
In the novelization of 2001 an advanced alien being observes the proto-human simians ans concludes his race should accelerate their Evolution through their technology. It's because of one of the proto-humans who persistently observes the Moon - that convinces the alien these creatures have promise: one observer of one moon. Your portrait of Galileo is the promise of that proto-human realized. Galileo the scientist stands on the shoulders of many proto-scientists. It's wonderful that great genius like Galileo accomplish so much, but science in particular and culture in general is the achievement of many, many members of the human race, working in tandem, building over vast time frames, toward - what? More knowledge? More machines? Wisdom? Who can say - the enterprise is too big. Your poem celebrates a moment of glory in this on-going enterprise. Moon-watcher primeval... Moon-watcher Galileo... Moon-watcher- (?) .
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/27/2024 11:44:44 AM # 1.0.0.1119
The beginning of human endeavours touches us all. An interesting poem. Thank you Denis for your comments.