- Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet,
- When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
- He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
- We are working to completion, working on from then to now.
- Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,
- Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,
- And remember men will scorn it, ’tis original and true,
- And the obliquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.
- But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of scorn,
- You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn,
- What for us are all distractions of men’s fellowship and smiles;
- What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles.
- You may tell that German College that their honor comes too late,
- But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant’s fate.
- Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
- I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
by Sarah Williams (1837-1868)
In the Dark 