Hard and Fast
 

Left-justified, right-rhymed,
We fake precision with cartoon lines.
Within vague tolerances, meter is timed,
Yet, on the plane of rules, true meaning declines.

The boundary which laws provide
Is but a fence against offence;
Avoid the edge to stay inside.
On the dividing line, sides give way to accidents.

What's hard is soft by microscope;
What's soft is harder to control.
Without control, some lose their hope.
Yet, there can be no true control, while hope is always, only whole.

Our faith in facts is faith, not fact,
For, figures infinitely flee.
Precision sought: completion lacked;
Which, when released, alights for free.

The earth's not flat; nor is it round:
It's squashed, and rough, and imprecise.
Air's hard when at the speed of sound;
When slow enough, rock's soft and nice.

Oh, sink with me into a stone,
Or climb the air, pursue a star;
But draw no lines 'round what is known,
And never, ever claim you've reached or seen how true or straight or near or
 far.