Link to the article :
https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/shocking-picture-shows-sunita-williams-weight-loss-here-s-what-she-can-eat-in-space-101731074378609.html
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A PITIFUL SIGHT
(See my poem “One-way space ticket”)
1st
More than six decades :
The experiments have gone on and on.
From “success” to “success,”
The “marvels,” “achievements,”
“Victories” have “progressed.”
2nd
To be honest,
‘Tis just experiment after experiment,
Pushing the limits of human endurance,
The limits of torture,
Of experimentation…
3rd
The successes and wonders be extoll’d :
The sufferings go unnotic’d, unsung…
Like rats, monkeys in laboratories…
They be sacrific’d
For some vague “progress”…
4th
A duo that was sent up for one week,
End’d up being sequestrat’d for six months…
Like yon rat that hath no choice
But to keep on jumping
In the spinning wheel….
It hath not idea what be happening to it :
Humans, however, do understand,
But their lips are seal’d :
They cannot complain.
5th
If the same happen’d on earth,
Labour laws would snap in :
Torture, inhuman treatment,
Experimentation, cruelty…
6th
But the space is beyond laws :
‘Tis a lawless jungle,
Where anything goes,
Where there be no tribunal,
No prosecution…
Myriads of witnesses might
Witness things from the earth,
But there is no prosecution :
You know what you sign’d up for…
7th
The woman’s face be ematiat’d,
Elongat’d, dried up;
A shadow of her former self
Hath she become.
Wait it out :
‘Tis just another exciting chance
To go on with the experimentation.
8th
The days are not far
When the face will be point’d,
The eyes exceedingly large,
The hair will be gone,
A ghastly, chilling,
Lifeless look.
The movements robotic,
Floating mechanically in space…
9th
\'On n’arrête pas le “progress,” \'
For, it be progress…
10th
The first installations on Mars
Should be a cemetery,
Complete with crosses,
Marble tabs,
With lofty inscriptions,
Extolling human sacrifice…
Preceding the first human team,
Let there be a cargo craft
To soft-land the necessaries
For a dignified cemetery…
11th
Humans be the only creatures
To aim at total self-destruction,
Willingly, resolutely…
That success at this hath not arriv’d sooner,
THAT be the wonder…
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Soman Ragavan
13 November, 2024
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