Assuming Pluto (Plutonic Sonnets 155)

Assuming Pluto to have been quite large

(Before it turned out to be far too small

For “Planet X”), G. Kuiper thought the marge

Beyond held nothing—nothing at all.

A theory of our system’s edge worth more,

As time would tell, proposed that past Neptune

A ring of icy matter held in store

More “Plutos” that would be discovered soon

Or late; and since of late they have, I’ve felt

That Kenneth Edgeworth might be more acclaimed.

Though one may see the “Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt,”

It’s mostly “Kuiper Belt”: a structure named

(And this must be more than a little rare)

For someone who believed it wasn’t there.