MINDSCAPE
(an excerpt)
...
And if the sun
should cool enough to freeze us
or explode to supernova
and thus incinerate us all
what alien ears,
on hearing a concerto of whales
a cry of birds
sent out in orphan Voyager
may celebrate our fragile hope
our itching curiosity
with what in alien delight
may pass for sacramental bread
and wine?
...
This Astronomy Picture of the Day Photograph is described: "Long before Stonehenge was built, well before the Dead Sea Scrolls were written, ancient artists painted life-sized figures on canyon walls" in Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA. This section of wall is called (because of the larger, dimmer figure in the middle) the HOLY GHOST panel. The sight of this, with the Milky Way stars of our own galaxy showing through a gap in the rocks, also turns me on, gives me goosebumps.
(photo and copyright: Bret Webster)
6 comments:
Hi Joyce...wow, you basically birthed a myth with this poem. Very cool.
Passion on a universal scale, Joyce!
what in alien delight
may pass for sacramental bread
and wine
Wow, Joyce! What magnificent verse. I love that i is presented as an excerpt that begins, as all excerpts and all life does, in medias res. Great pairing of photo and poem and explanation.
orhpan Voyager, fragile hope, itching curiosity, alien delight.
A beautiful poem, a turn on, indeed!
The great aphrodisiac - the unknown and the what if? I can feel the goosebumps of maybes.
Joyce I can see why it gives you goosebumps! Well done!
Pamela
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