Half right; is correct in fact.
It’s free from error’s damage.
It’s twice been checked and so exact.
It’s the best that we can manage.
Half right is true and so ideal.
It’s there in a lover’s kiss.
It’s passionate and full of zeal.
It’s perfect as it is.
Right is then a two-faced coin,
as would carry yang and ying.
Principles that we can join
to make a good and proper thing.
. Good reason often comes to plight,
. for rarely does it prove twice right.
© Tim Grace, (WS-Sonnet 66: line 7) 21 April 2011
To the reader: To be completely right a solution must be both correct and true. Correctness requires abidance with the facts. To be true requires loyalty despite false attraction. Half-right solutions are not, therefore, wrong; they’re just not completely right. According to circumstance, the half-right solution (being correct or true but not both) is all that’s needed. In love be true, otherwise correct.
To the poet: Semantics and pedantry are to be handled with care. Splitting meaning for no good purpose can be perceived as mischievous; spoiling for a fight. Exploring the difference between two words (correct and true) in light of a common theme (rightness) was hopefully revealing; more so than troublesome. The choice of one word over another is a qualitative decision.
good reason
One More Sonnet 