Poem-A pitiful sight--13Nov2024 (space exploration)

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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.”

2^nd

To be honest,

‘Tis just experiment after experiment,

Pushing the limits of human endurance,

The limits of torture,

Of experimentation…

3^rd

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”…

4^th

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.

5^th

If the same happen’d on earth,

Labour laws would snap in :

Torture, inhuman treatment,

Experimentation, cruelty…

6^th

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…

7^th

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.

8^th

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…

9^th

'On n’arrête pas le “progress,” '

For, it be progress…

10^th

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…

11^th

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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