Special Flight
From Time Trials, page 9
ISBN 1-931002-69-1
Petaluma, 2009
To Arthur C. Clarke
Dr. Floyd’s Eulogy from Space Station One
The stars are not for Man
Even as one David Bowman
And the crews of Discovery Challenger, and Columbia
Ceased to exist,
Others became immortal
The last links with Earth gone
Resolved back into their components atom’s.
This is a transformation of the mind
Their secret ambition
Had at last dared to emerge
Into the full light of consciousness.
It is as clear
And unmistakable as a vapor trail
Across a cloudless sky
Or a single line of footprints
Over a field of virgin snow.
Some immaterial patterns of energy,
Throwing a spray of radiation
Like the wake of speeding raceboats
Had leaped and headed out
Toward the stars.
Free at last
From the tyranny
Of matter,
They could continue the mission,
Unhindered,
To rove at will among
The stars to watch over
The achievements of more civilizations.
Marshaling their thoughts
And brooding over still untested powers.
Mankind could become more
Than an inferior species
Preserved in an out-of-way zoo.
