thestartrekcycle
These poems are the result of a tennis-like volley of poems between me and Fragano Ledgister on Making Light in the Spring of 2007. It was not quite a competition, nor quite a race, since he's clearly the better poet, and can write a sonnet much faster than I. In some ways it was sort of an antiphonal chant.
We'll find another Scot, one who will cope
with situations dire and distressed.
When ask'd for all he has, he calls for hope,
delivering much more than he's assessed.
He fusses with the things in his domain.
Moves the widget left a jot or two.
On framistat, first thinks, then ups the gain,
satisfaction comes after a try or two.
His words are practical for he will not
use poesy. There never can be letup
in his work, or stay, as he was taught
that all must function when told "Beam me up!"
It's not the kind of thing that we'd forget.
The Road Goes Ever On
More generations fly out to the black.
Bigger ships and longer treks and still
we need to see the far side of the hill.
Now we carry counselors to stay on track,
partners and children who share the knack
of making space a home. We always will
meet other beings as friends and still
we carry guns; some won't be friendly back.
So we have moved our lives to space in full,
no reason now for going back to Earth.
From time to time we find that our thoughts go
back to our species' home, we feel the pull
of life like ours. The feeling passes as re-birth
of yearning for the sky says, "Make it so!"
For generations we expanded from the core.
Now in deep space we find ourselves immersed
in plots, intrigues with gods, revenge, and war.
The future that we valued seems accursed.
Must our long trek be held back, changed, coerced
into a trial of arms, holding in store
a long and bloody slide that ends in first
much misery and death, then slams the door
on all our upward progress? There's no more
evil outlook we can see. We have traversed
the realm of gods; we think that with their lore
we can transcend the fate that's on us burst.
Assuming we prevail, it's not the end,
then maybe next with zombies we'll contend.
There's some would have our ship bear a new name:
"Ahasuerus", "Falkenberg", some name of strife.
The space ahead is vast, unknown, not tame:
our getting home will take ten years of life.
We'll visit stars and planets strange and fair
and dangerous to any passing through. We might
find one-eyed shepherds or a tempter's lair,
savor feast, bear famine, have to talk or fight.
Our captain sits the bridge, takes watch and watch,
so each alert will find her poised to deal
with what impedes our flight. We know
that weird as what we've seen, it's not a patch
on what comes next. Looking forward still we feel
the less for those we lost who cannot go.
A five year mission to the sky,
to trek beyond our ken, see what abides
where stars amid the blackness cause
our wonder. We seek out and befriend beings
most unlike us, who also answer to the force
that pushes us. Alliance is the best result.
The next generation enlarges the result
of the past. We trek still further in the sky
to make more friends. We've found that force
is not the only way to deal. Earth abides
in peace and learns from all the beings
we find. As time goes on we join in common cause.
Out in the deep, old tensions may cause
war. To pick a side could choose the wrong result,
adding strength to actions of the beings
who seek to rule us. But still the sky
holds wonders beyond telling: our hope abides
in gods in other space. We pray their force.
A ship in peril, thrown through space by force
unknown, two crews opposed must now find common cause.
The trek to home is long, our hope abides
in speed and not accepting any bad result.
We meet new folk who also roam the sky;
while some are allies, some are hostile beings.
We look back at how some other beings
first found us, to start us on the trek. The force
that drives us shapes our way into the sky;
we set forth using our own skills. The cause
of strife comes out of time. The best result
comes only with great trial, if strength abides.
Now look beyond the space where peace abides
and plan new treks to find new beings
unlike us as may be. If the result
is good or bad, does not matter to the force
that drives us on, no matter what. The cause
we follow is to make a culture in the sky.
The force that pushes life beyond the sky
can cause some single beings much woe.
The long result at last is what abides.
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