‘Heaven’s Playground’


North, South East and West,
Harbouring dark secrets
High beyond this island of ours,
Heaven’s playground, night time jewels at their best.

Men in long ignited tin cans,
Blasted into this dark abyss.
Looking back from whence they came,
Visible now so many lands.

Passing shadows by this eclipse,
As though hiding from Earth’s intrusion.
Cosmic rays from distant stars,
An ocean at night adorned, terrestrial ships.

Mysterious objects disguised as stars
Distant source of energy,
Very small, very bright
Mass or matter, just some quasars.

With inherent nature to explore,
Infinity in space, no boundary,
Like riding on a solar wind,
To where no man has gone before.

Startling showers of speeding light,
Casting spell on this our world.
Burning meteors in some cosmic race,
But passing silently through this permanent night.

This cosmic revolution of transformation,
Matter to life, unity with this vastness of space.
This blue jewel as seen from above,
Natural satellite or universal station ?

Beyond this dark horizon, to depths of infinity,
To what purpose do we seek new life.
Insignificant this blue orb of ours,
There are no secrets in this earthly vicinity.

Men of science ? men of conjecture?
Like cosmic children playing newfound games.
These birds now free of their earthly cages,
Now astronauts ignore this cosmic lecture.

Paul Gallagher Feb. 08