Poem – HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN (PART I) (By Ray Gallucci)

 

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN (PART I)

 

A shame to imagine how moon is just

A memory distant we’ve almost lost.

Appears that we only pursued in jest

To travel in space — 50 years have passed.

 

Today’s generation cannot conceive

Of passionate fervor with which we strove

To land first on moon — such a matter grave

That three of our astronauts gave their lives.

 

Today we don’t venture beyond the earth

Except when our robots go probing forth.

Though surface of Mars has been mapped in depth,

Of landing by men we can’t see the worth.

 

“Indifference” the byword which now describes

The spirit with which we seek other globes.

“Stagnation” as science goes down the tubes,

While conjure we multiple alibis.

 

“It’s way too expensive, the risk’s too much

When problems on earth are beyond our reach.”

No distant horizon our fancy catch

When short-sighted goal is just growing rich.

 

How easily lost we our innocence

And with it our sense of the wonderment

That comes when we realize how ignorant

We were ere discovering unknown land.

 

Can readily blame it on Vietnam,

Or Watergate, Monica, or else some

Profound disillusionment we assume

Excuses complacency like a balm.

 

Our astronauts now only Shuttle board

To travel no farther than earth’s backyard.

Our own planet’s gravity, like a cord

Umbilical, chains us to mother’s skirt.

 

Imagine we finally get the call

Inviting us destiny to fulfill

By meeting with aliens — how, pray tell,

Inform them we’re held by our planet’s pull?

 

For peak technological just look back

To past generation who chose to knock

On door to the future that we reject

When foolishly seek other locks to pick.

 

Author Bio:



I am a Professional Engineer who has been writing poetry since 1990. I am an incorrigible rhymer, tending toward the skeptical/cynical regarding daily life. I have been fortunate to have been published in poetry magazines and on-line journals such as NUTHOUSE, MOTHER EARTH INTERNATIONAL, FEELINGS/POETS’ PAPER, MÖBIUS (when Jean Hull Herman published), PABLO LENNIS, MUSE OF FIRE, SO YOUNG!, THE AARDVARK ADVENTURER, POETIC LICENSE, THUMBPRINTS, UNLIKELY STORIES, BIBLIOPHILOS, FULLOSIA PRESS, NOMAD’S CHOIR, HIDDEN OAK, PABLO LENNIS, POETSESPRESSO, SOUL FOUNTAIN, WRITER’S JOURNAL, ATLANTIC PACIFIC PRESS, DERONDA REVIEW, LYRIC, THE STORYTELLER, WRITE ON! and DANA LITERARY SOCIETY.