urban dog
12-17-2007, 03:13 AM
The original version of this poem appeared in Pennons of Pegasus as a sonnet. I subsequently decided that the 14-liner was too short for the theme, so I lengthened the poem, which you can see below.
FLIGHTS OF FANCY
Some steps ascend stone towers on mountains tall
As nine skyscrapers standing end to end,
Some stretch between two stories of a small
Suburban home, and some staircases bend
Across the Galaxy to a solar system
Thousands of light-years distant from the Earth.
Some flights are such that humans can’t resist ’em.
Our brains invent hypotheses, give birth
To exaggerated stories: UFOs,
Canals on Mars, or houses that are haunted.
Some visions, though, come true. An image glows
Inside a mind, which presses forth undaunted —
An image as far-fetched and mystifying
As the strange notion that the Earth is round,
As Leonardo’s fantasy of flying,
That life on other planets might be found
By space probes. We have walked upon the moon,
Investigated comet dust. We’ve flexed
Our intellect and learned that, like a balloon,
The cosmos is expanding. What is next?
We’ve taken many steps since long ago
Toward understanding life and to unravel
The universe’s mysteries. We know
The next step for our species is space travel.
Yet we’re still as perplexed about the world
As cavemen were when the sky was torn asunder
As twisters and fierce hurricanes had swirled
And filled their terror-stricken ears with thunder.
Before the sun burns out where will we be?
Will we take steps toward colonizing space
Or sidestep that eventuality?
Leave Mother Earth or vanish without trace?
Martin Elster
2 November 2007
FLIGHTS OF FANCY
Some steps ascend stone towers on mountains tall
As nine skyscrapers standing end to end,
Some stretch between two stories of a small
Suburban home, and some staircases bend
Across the Galaxy to a solar system
Thousands of light-years distant from the Earth.
Some flights are such that humans can’t resist ’em.
Our brains invent hypotheses, give birth
To exaggerated stories: UFOs,
Canals on Mars, or houses that are haunted.
Some visions, though, come true. An image glows
Inside a mind, which presses forth undaunted —
An image as far-fetched and mystifying
As the strange notion that the Earth is round,
As Leonardo’s fantasy of flying,
That life on other planets might be found
By space probes. We have walked upon the moon,
Investigated comet dust. We’ve flexed
Our intellect and learned that, like a balloon,
The cosmos is expanding. What is next?
We’ve taken many steps since long ago
Toward understanding life and to unravel
The universe’s mysteries. We know
The next step for our species is space travel.
Yet we’re still as perplexed about the world
As cavemen were when the sky was torn asunder
As twisters and fierce hurricanes had swirled
And filled their terror-stricken ears with thunder.
Before the sun burns out where will we be?
Will we take steps toward colonizing space
Or sidestep that eventuality?
Leave Mother Earth or vanish without trace?
Martin Elster
2 November 2007