The following poem was first published in Illumen, Spring 2025.

Swirling bands of clouds, azure, gold, and green

spiraling whorls of color, tan and tangerine

Metallic hydrogen seas are churning,

blue aurorae tingling, burning

The king of planets ever shines

upon the children of the earth

Rings on rings, however faint

steadfast gravity shows no restraint,

countless moons Zeus has accrued

From the makeshift lens were viewed

by a man who reads the signs

of Jupiter’s surpassing worth

Galileo uncovered the secret math

and so incurred the church’s wrath

They sentenced him to house arrest,

thinking this would end his quest

But knowledge cannot be confined

after imagination gives birth