Last night, drew out blinds,
Rearranged our minds.
Our melodic tones
Who were not alone.
I remember this from a dream
A clear blue dream
My own advice
I've been to this time before
This distant shore,
Call it deja vu but
I can't believe my eyes.
... [We were wanderers from the beginning
From this distant vantage point,
The Earth might not seem of particular interest,
But for us, it's different. We haven't forgotten.
The open road still calls, like a forgotten song of childhood.]
Last night, crude guitars,
Rearranging stars.
Amber souls ignite,
Drift into the night.
I remember this for a find
A wake behind
My former thougth.
A world that burns,
A forge that turns,
Our own embers wrought of the future we forgot.
... ...
[By Carl Sagan, from Sagan's book Pale Blue Dot was
Inspired by an image taken by Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990.]
Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us.
On it everyone you love, everyone you know,
Everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was,
Lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering,
Thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines,
Every hunter and forager, every hero and coward,
Every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant,
Every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child,
Inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals,
Every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader,
" Every saint and sinner in the history of our species
Lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.
Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and
Emperors so that, in glory and triumph,
They could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Like it or not, the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building
Experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of
Human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me,
It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one
Another, and to preserve and cherish the
Pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.