In that small town was a worthy wight,

(His honest townsmen well approve his worth,)

Whose mind has pierced the solid crust of earth,

And roam'd undaunted in the nether night.

His thought a quenchless incorporeal light,

Has thrid the labyrinth of a world unknown,

Where the old Gorgon time has turn'd to stone

Long thorny snake and monstrous lithophyte.

Long may'st thou wander in that deep obscure,

And issuing thence, good sage, bring with thee still

That honest face, where truth and goodness shine;

Right is thy creed, as all thy life is pure.

And yet if certain persons had their will,

The fate of Galileo had been thine.