Dear Reader, this is the first time I’ve personally posted my new award winning poem It placed 1st in the Poetry Society of Texas Performance Poetry Annual Competition. Credits follow the poem. The poem is written in the form of a Dramatic Monologue.
Galileo Galilei, a Defense of Heliocentricism
Thank you my dear friend Ferdinando for the honor of your presence. To think that only seven of the ten cardinals of the inquisition voted for conviction of near heresy with threats of torture, puzzles me. I know, it could have been much worse, this house arrest brings such a burden of loneliness. I miss my daughter Marie Celeste. Her encouraging letters bring me more comfort than you can know. My mission is to make God’s design of the cosmos known to all men. Would that my oppressors could see Jupiter’s moons move in such synchronicity. If only they could see how mathematics predict the future positions of those orbs. Instead, they placed my work on the Index of Forbidden Books, and argue that my work violates scripture. I say not so! My theology agrees with Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. One cannot take all scripture to be literal. My work is built on those who came before. Men like Aristarchus almost nine hundred years ago. And recently Copernicus and Kepler have added to the body of work on heliocentricism. You must tell no one of what I shall tell you next. A friend has asked me to share my, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. One day it will be my witness and a force for good my friend. No sir, I cannot publish it now. One day my friend, I will be exonerated. For now, I dare not risk being permanently separated from my darling, Marie Celeste. Her gentle spirit and kindness has given me a reason to live. May my detractor’s eyes one day be opened. Soli Deo Gloria.
Previously published in the Poetry Society of Texas Book of the Year 2015
© 2014 Richard L Weatherly
Rich Weatherly - Author 