Sonnet - To Science
By Edgar Allan Poe

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

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I spent a wonderful afternoon in Baltimore with dementordelta and rubyrosered, whom we met at her new house and from whom we received the grand tour before we headed into the city. We met Delta's friend Sam for lunch at Harborplace (where I got an order of fish and chips -- well, mashed potatoes -- big enough for three people). Then we went to the Maryland Science Center, since this is the last week of the terrific Da Vinci: The Genius exhibit; we had the place practically to ourselves, so we could go through slowly and read all about the mechanical devices and art on display. (The detailed study of the Mona Lisa remains my favorite, though I also love the hands-on machines and the long film about Da Vinci's life.) Afterward we visited the Chesapeake Bay and dinosaur exhibits and saw the planetarium show on dark matter.


Delta and Ruby with the USS Constellation in the background from a balcony at Harborplace.


No photos are permitted in the Da Vinci exhibit, but here are the aerial screw and flying machine outside the display entrance.


And here is the Mona Delta.


What is a visit to a natural history museum without seeing dinosaurs?


A blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay gallery overlooking the harbor below.


We are all looking forward to Alice in IMAX!


I had a request for a photo of this gift shop remote control snakey.


Federal Hill was still decorated in honor of the Ravens' playoff bid.</center>

After leaving rubyrosered at her house with her boyfriend, family, cats, and envy-inducing computer setup, dementordelta brought me home and apaulled fed us sweet and sour tofu. Then we watched John Barrowman and Barry Manilow singing "I Made It Through the Rain" together in this YouTube clip before she had to go home. My family watched two episodes of How The Earth Was Made -- "The Rockies" and "Death Valley" -- on the History Channel, but hearing about all the insect eggs in our food grossed us out sufficiently that we turned off Life After People.