Mars

Prairie Resch '21

Tell me the stories

Of those far-off shores,

Of distant planets,

Of the rolling tide of light & matter & time

Across the infinite fringes of our universe,

And how, the more we think understand, the less we do

And the more questions we have

Unanswered,

Tugging gently at the back of our—human—mind

And tilting ancient eyes towards the stars,

The seas,

Tracks set across deserts & steppes & tundra for

Questions, unanswered.

Prayers & praise & pursuit—

In sacred groves and hallowed grounds,

Welcoming the unknown and mysterious just as

In the House of Knowledge,

Birthplace of Algebra, or

On the stone steps of the Maya, or

Through the vaults of Alexandria, that funeral pyre, and

Across the scrolls of the poets whose wonder at this natural world touched upon

Unanswered questions.

And I’ve watched the ants between clumps of grass and

Fantasized that I could see as small as they do

Or looked up at the wheeling clouds of ravens and

Didn’t know which I wanted more—

To feel the rush of air under wings

Or to look down on the patchwork land beneath

(Might I glimpse my own upturned face?)

Or to be that much closer to the stars and all the things we know exist as

Questions… unanswered.

Curiosity breaking and rebuilding what we thought to be true—

Even if for a time it was truth—and

Opportunity trundling on across ancient—more than ancient—sea planes,

A mechanized space-sailor, astronaut

Carrying the minds of thousands of people and the hearts of millions more, a

Phoenix—risen from the obstinate hunger of knowing—and the

Perseverance ingrained to every moment,

Strange and faulty and above all, human, as the

Ingenuity to find new

Unanswered: questions.

Sing to me, muse, of the splintered equations

And the bent laws of physics

When human hands reach one step closer to infinity

And our minds see farther than our eyes

Were ever meant to,

Into the wobble of muons & the unfathomable depths

Of galaxies,

Of time itself,

The macroscopic and the micro:

Infinite, both.

Questions—unanswered—infinite.

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Mars

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