My Pale Blue Dot (Found poem)

The Pale Blue Dot

(Inspired by Carl Sagan)

That dot. That’s us.

Every being in history, here.

Cowards, destroyers,

corrupt inventor of morals.

Teachers, explorers,

every joy in our history.

Aggregate of our suffering

suspended in a sunbeam.

Earth is a small, cosmic arena

of endless cruelties.

Frequent, fervent hatred.

Momentary masters glory

in rivers of blood,

triumph of a fraction

of a dot.

Our obscurity is

a lonely, enveloping darkness.

Our privileged posturings

an obscure position

on a point of pale light.

No hint of help

to save us from ourselves.

Earth is the only harbor.

There is nowhere

near to migrate.

Earth, we make our stand.

Character building is

our responsibility.

Humbling human conceits

to preserve more kindly

the only home we’ve ever known.

References

Sagan, Carl. Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. New York: Random House, 1997. Print.