Man's Aspiration
by
Robert Strength
Up
there in the clouds, if you gaze with humble sight,
with
your eyes wide open without fear of the light,
amongst
the blown mists and floes of the wind,
you
will witness and know the Kingdom of Men.
For
Man had built skyward, in the essence of might,
defying
the Earth in a race for new heights,
their
ships and their hubris were all that they kept,
when,
into the darkness, faithless, they lept,
"We
are reckoned," claimed Man, "by all that we know,
and
behold what our thoughts have wrought on this globe,
Our
towers, our computers,
our
roads, and our wars,
have
set us on this journey, sojourn, and course,
The
impossible depth of all that there is,
will
soon, in due course, be a path that we tread,
for
there is no truth that we shall not learn,
no
concept unkept, no knowledge unearned!"
Up
in the very top, in the very highest room,
of
the very largest ship that circled our moon,
a
man stood waiting, appearing utterly calm,
to
launch his fair race into the darkness beyond,
Man's
fleet, his fleet, was a symphony in tune,
courage
set, farewells said, out beyond the moon,
John
Caesar, the Captain, of Man's Aspiration,
had
poured all that he was into this one occasion,
He
surveyed the crew, as tension was mounting,
his
motionless lips denied his feeling of shouting,
and
then "GO!" his command set the fleet into motion,
and
outward we sailed upon the Nothingness Ocean.
Time
is most potent when patience is needed,
and
the trek would be long before his trip was completed,
but
patience was his, so he befriended his crew,
even
one he made wife, and dear family ensued.
Time
swept the travelers into family and kin,
and
they sailed the empty stars unfettered by sin,
Until
Thomas grew up and turned on their cause,
and
tore down their sails using freedom as claws,
It
was not John Caesar, Good Captain and Good Father,
who
reached the far shore of this ocean sans water,
it
was Thomas, the tyrant, the usurper and son,
who
felled Man's aspiration before the journey was done.
Thomas
knew no home, not Earth or any other,
he
knew no safe harbors, he knew no comrades or brothers,
Thomas
knew Thomas, his boredom and envy,
alone
with no mission, and needful of Plenty,
He
took the ship from his Father Captain, Judas son,
from
the people of Earth of whom he was not one,
he
squandered thier hopes, named himself Captain,
and
sailed the fleet onward in search of his passions,
In
the deep of space, they, no longer collective,
accidentally
they realized their final objective,
in
a fitful moment of punishing sobriety,
they
met with the peoples of the universal society.
No
ill, no war, no poverty or strife,
the
people of elsewhere lived the perfection of life,
they
loved and they grew and they loved what they grew,
and
they wanted to share it, with us, all they knew.
Yet
it was Thomas who spoke to the Council of Neighbors,
He
spoke with his pride and he asked for their favors,
but
the Great Ones in session looked into his heart,
and
saw neither love, nor courage, nor art.
They
saw that sad little man, Thomas, taker of hope,
and
they retired to their privacy in order to vote,
for
many long days they discussed and debated,
and
they decided at length it wasn't man that they hated,
but
the greed and the war and the fighting we needed,
and
the fear that they held that our rage might be seeded,
and
then grow in their people and bring them unrest,
it
was the only new thing that our people possessed,
and
so the council voted and they took away our ship,
along
with our people that had accompanied the trip,
they
took our their maps and marked us a loss,
we
were to great a risk, of too great a cost.
They
never returned, nor sent missive or letter,
in
lieu of failure, perhaps, the silence was better,
and
we stayed on our globe and thought the sky dead,
no
more roads to journey, no more paths to tread.
And
thus we sit spinning on our personal throne,
a
kingdom of Man's aspiration, alone,
the
greatest of creatures, as far as we know,
Pride
born of ignorance, and ignorant so.
