Alchemists at Harvard

An ignoble gas into strange metal,

pressure into tangible substance.

Have they forged a miracle

as unbelievable as lead into gold?

No sooner is the paper published

than the alternative facts emerge,

a Deuterium particle in the mix

contaminates the outcome…

But their guess is as good

as yours, or mine or

a hundred thousand whitecoats’.

We profess our last faiths,

place them in scientists’ hands

and vials and vacua.

So I believe.

I believe in the proofs

empirical and mathematical.

I believe in Pi and infinity,

and in the universe beyond.

I believe in rigour

and despise opinion

as the spin that turns

a leggy into a googly

and a lie into the truth.

Gas into metal,

Hate into Love.

I believe.