Astronomy in the Seventeenth Century

(Inspired by Jan Vermeer’s The Astronomer)

You sit in a kimono-like silk robe,

observe the Dragon, Hercules, the Bear

and Lyra on your multicolored globe,

and eavesdrop as they speak of an elsewhere

beyond your ken. A manual on the table

is open to the saying, “inspiration

from God,” a practicable guide to enable

a man to learn the stars and navigation.

How dare you go against the sacred scheme,

commit attempts to learn about the earth,

the nature of the suns and worlds that beam

their facts to prying scientists? A dearth

of hands-on research is what they expect.

Is that the reason you’ve no telescope?

God’s frightened His whole system could be wrecked

if you don’t wash your notions out with soap.

The globe now, in slow motion, detonates,

the constellations flung every which way.

You fall as your gray matter vacillates

between the urge to blaspheme or to pray.