[^^mac home page] [Travel Department (Paris)]
On thoughts of millenia, and a stations called "Mir"
Obit on an orbit....
Opening blurble
When I wrote the poem about Mir,
it was about two years (or more) ago,
when it was (at that time),
about to be de-commissioned.
I think that anyone
who has come to know
any kind of ship as a home in the storm
would understand:
What I was trying to say.
From one point-of-view:
Trying to exist
in a hostile environment (such as space).
(and it is the complete absence of environment
that makes it appear to be so hostile ....
But, alas.
I realize
That those words are
those of a land-lubber (in this case
quite litterally,
a ground-hog,
a terrestrial,
a non-spacer,
a .....
And still, the advances in technology have
clearly made any thought of up-grade
problematic at best (in fact, it is the
entire problem of maintenance that forces
us to realize that up-grade is not an
option; indeed, our options at this point
are sevrely ......
I suppose the words that are best are those
of the tau.....
From cold space,
serene and clear
Cosmonauts glimpsed
the one thing in the void that
filled daily their view: Terra!
World of our dreams,
world of our fears,
contantly turning,
holdng all that is dear: Terra!
From warm oceans lapping at desert shores,
to penguin spaces coldly alive with life,
From jungle's torrent of rains pristine,
to mega-o-polis-es teaming with people: Terra!
Oh, view of our world,
oh, wondrous green
big blue marble
sighs and sights still un-seen: Terra!
She was a good ship. Meerly meer her name,
from cold space's warm glow,
racing every round our world
Station Terra! Station Mir.
And still the suns flux past
quietly flows,
and still the suns flux past
quietly flows.
January 5, 2001.
Back to the POETRY page
Back to the MAC home page