Our caution once was shield against the flame,
And reason kept the waiting walls in mind;
Yet each new review repeats the same,
While living chances pass us from behind.
The reason we possess was not for sleep,
Nor thought to guard a name from every flame,
But waking judgment must its promise keep,
And make the public trial more than shame.
Let living users judge what we have known;
Not every fear deserves to make us kneel;
For no imagined flaw is carved in stone—
Set thresholds; ship, and learn what proves real.
Once cause and will and means align, act;
Let thought grow bloody—change the world by fact.