You cannot force a fancy on my mind;

Truth is the glass that shows reality,

Though critics parse the logic they may find,

There still remains one actuality.

All human fancy is subject to gloss

That’s oft by will or happenstance contrived,

Through wit alone are misperceptions tossed

For sole by reason is a proof derived.

Where once man did believe the world was flat

And that the earth was center for the sun,

Such misconceptions here now make us laugh,

While Galileo’s chains spoke truth alone—

Reason be damned, embrace the common thought;

Heretics burn that flout the orthodox!