In the frozen misty dawn, wandering like a nomad
Seeking peace and escape, but from what
She knew not, neither the why nor the how
Only sure she had to, or later or now
Fly as hard as she might, as often she could
Down she came tumbling
To drab routines; she continued
Her reveries of cosmic cruising
One evening, the dream went lucid and stark
With family, friends, inside a veritable human Noah’s ark
Space borne they were, traveling at light’s speed
Faster than any craft could proceed
All their needs, all but wished to reality
Wildest of dreams come true
Passing distant celestial bodies casually
Ducking debris in the cosmic hue
Vast emptiness, with stars ‘n holes ever distant
To the edge of the Milky Way they soar
100k years hence, billions of galaxies loom in the distance
Evolution kept pressing on myriad progenies thus far
Language devolved, with no end in sight
Faces flattened, limbs lean, heads pumpkin-like
Earlobes dangling, chins extended, toes upright
Elbows doubling, fingers snake-like
A billion years on, no way back
Cosmic flares, more holes eased past them
Eyes now slits, noses grotesque, slack
Grunts, screams, laughter, mayhem
Nothingness unfolds, cosmic dust doth hiss
‘Twixt bizarre celestial bodies, that Hubble would miss
A million auroras beckoned them to the unknown
Love and hate scattering into evolution’s sojourn
Still no end in sight, as eons flew
Into strange creatures they had now evolved
Knowing no more of the cosmic brew
Than when the vision commenced
Strange were the bodies, floating on plasma and gases
Just as distant from them as seen on earth
As light reaching earthlings speaks of realities
Heralded billions of years past, but now only mirage
Yearning they did, for what they knew not
It had to be different, better, earth’s memories now gone
The vastness of their surround, an unfathomable blot
Elbahcuotnu elbahcaernu, tnecifingam, enola!
Quick visit to Earth, now a sordid desert ball
Rotating as always, lifeless not a dot of blue or green
Swiftly turned back, resuming the cosmic trawl
Was it Man or comet, that smashed Earth to smithereens?
Lucid dreams gave way to a jolting awakening
Like mad she ran, toward her loved ones
Hugging, kissing, crying, laughing, sobbing
Rejoicing, celebrating love that trumped cosmic puns
Wondering if the cruise was worthy of the love she now felt
Pondering too if perchance earthiness, authenticity
And the quest to make of what she had, the best
To share, respect and love, would trump fantasy
Impossible dreams of a vastness that will forever
Elude humans, save for egos, like riding unbroken horses
Trivial in face of such majesty’s infinite immensity
Conceding human ignorance entails humility
Rejoicing earthly bedlam, realities, joys, pains
Submitting to truths, for love, as peace sways
Dumping conceit, selfish whims, craving a tranquil humanity
Respect, cherish, protect nature’s treasures, oozing modesty
©Alwi Shatry, All Rights Reserved, July 22, 2017
-
Author:
Seek (
Offline) - Published: July 23rd, 2017 00:06
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 25
Offline)
Comments3
this is so beautiful!
I am heartened, flattered, encouraged and humbled. Your generosity of spirit is touching, though only in 4 words! Thank you.
Seek, as you said it is long, but I think worth reading. Halfway through I thought that maybe these space travellers, originally from earth, would return and be looked at as aliens.
The ending though is wishful thinking.
Thanks for your review FredP. I have wrestled with this poem for quite a while now. As we know, our technology simply has no means of cruising a Universe with an estimated 100 billion galaxies, each with billions of stars; the largest galaxy with a diameter of over 1 million light years. To say that the immensity of it is mind boggling would be a gross understatement. To grapple with such problems, I turned the cruise into a dream sequence, so the crew could travel freely (for generations). It was intended to be a reminder of human impotence in the face of such incomprehensible vastness. At any rate, you are right, if they did indeed return to earth, they would certainly have looked like aliens to earthlings. But so would Earth's residents, they too would look like aliens to them, had earthlings survived the ravages of war and environmental abuse (hence the "desert ball"). Again, you are right about the end. The phantom travelers woke up and loved their planet afresh, with hopes for a better world. But we all know that is not to be. Thank you for your thought provoking comments on my "work in progress". I really appreciate it.
I liked this very much!
Thank you. As you say, we should be one with the U.
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