See the Question

I wrote a poem about interplanetary colonisation.  One does that sort of thing, once in a while.


'Look up from your homeworld:
See the question.
It demands you apply your mind.
Lay down your hammers;
Look up from your homeworld,
And consider the question.

From the fading sky, the first stars’ fires shine.
Then as one speaks,
Another answers.
One thought provokes another;
Conference discovers wisdom:
Ten thousand candles write a mighty fire.

The skies question us:
“Who will enlighten?
Who will build?
Who will forge new highways?
Who will apply,
And who will understand?”

We will answer the skies:
“What is life in the dark?
Our eye seeks the light;
Our hand holds the squaring tool.
We will make new skies beneath our feet,
To answer those which reach over us!”

To your hammers!
To your fires!
Our drive unsleeping will build again:
Forge a new ship for a new voyage;
As we have sailed the oceans,
So we will sail the skies.

Make crew and make provision;
Set out along the new highway;
Rise up from your homeworld:
Add to the fire new candles,
And the sky will brighten –
Let the conference above rejoice in our answer!'


Some background to the project, and a translation into the constructed language Ballum, can be found on my website at www.mattghc.com/seethequestion…