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Author	Topic: Unknown Bradbury space poem
Lance Member	posted 11-28-2001 09:13 AM Hey, folks. A few years ago I read one of Bradbury's poems--perhaps it was about the moon--and I haven't seen it anywhere since then. I believe it was an argument for space travel. I found it in Omni or one of the other "slicks." I know this isn't much to go on, but if nothing else, it gives you guys something with which to test your grasp of Bradbury trivia. Thanks! IP: Logged
Lance Member	posted 11-28-2001 01:13 PM Thanks to Mr. Frank Palumbo for his timely response to my query. Please consult Omni of April 2000--at least I think this is the year; Frank, you might correct me on this. The poem is reprinted here for your reading pleasure. However, the first few words of the poem are still among the missing, so if you would all please consult your Omni magazines, we can complete the poem. ... ... seen the stars, Not one, not one Of all the creatures on this world In all the ages since the sands First touched the wind, Not one, not one, No beast of all the beasts has stood On meadowland or plain or hill And known the thrill of looking at those fires. Our soul admires what they, Oh, they, have never known. Five billion years have flown In turnings of the spheres, But not once in all those years Has lion, dog, or bird that sweeps the air Looked there, oh, look. Looked there. Ah, God, the stars. Oh, look, there! It is as if all time had never been, Nor Universe or Sun or Moon Or simple morning light. Those beasts, their tragedy was mute and blind, And so remains. Our sight? Yes, ours? to know now what we are. But think of it, then choose. Now, which? Born to raw Earth, inhabiting a scene, And all of it no sooner viewed, erased, As if these miracles had never been? Vast circlings of sounding fire and frost, And all when focused, what? as quickly lost? Or us, in fragile flesh, with God's new eyes That lift and comprehend and search the skies? We watch the seasons drifting in the lunar tide And know the years, remembering what's died. IP: Logged
fjpalumbo Member	posted 11-29-2001 10:43 AM Date of printing of the poem in OMNI magazine was April, 1980 (pg. 90). IP: Logged
douglasSP Member	posted 12-30-2001 03:23 PM No problem. I think I have the old Omni magazine as well, but the poem was printed in The Complete poems of Ray Bradbury (Ballantine/Del Rey, 1982, p. 79). The missing part goes: THEY HAVE NOT SEEN THE STARS They have not seen the stars, Not one, not one Of all the creatures on this world ... etc. There's another stanza with about twenty lines after the above quote, as well. IP: Logged
fjpalumbo Member	posted 04-29-2005 12:52 PM I've uncovered my very first post ( 11-29-2001 10:43 AM ) and find it more than ironic that it related to a poem. For on my return from NYC last Sunday via train, I was taken by a poem RB wrote long ago. The poem is entered at the outset of Illustrated Life (Weist), and follows below as it appears on p.16: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THOUGHT AND SPACE A Poem by Ray D. Bradbury (1940) Space--thy boundaries are Time and time alone. No earth-born rocket, seedling skyward sown, Will ever reach your cold, infinite end, This power is not Man's to build or send. Great deities laugh down, venting their mirth, At struffling bipeds on a cloud-wrapped Earth, Chained solid on a war-swept, waning globe, For FATE, who witnesses, to pry and probe. BUT LIST! One weapon have I stronger yet! Prepare Infinity! And Gods regret! Thought, quick as light, shall pierce the veil, To reach the lost beginnings Holy Grail. Across the sulen void on soundless trail, Where new-spawned suns and chilling planets wail, One thought shall travel 'midst the gods' playthings, Past cindered globes where choking flame still sings. No wall of force yet have ye firmly wrought, That chains the supreme strength of purest thought. Unleashed, without a body's slacking hold, Thought leaves the ancient Earth behind to mold. And when the galaxies have heeded Death, And welcomed lastly SPACE'S poisoned breath, Still shall thought travel as an arrow flown. SPACE--thy boundaries are TIME--AND TIME ALONE! [This message has been edited by fjpalumbo (edited 04-29-2005).] IP: Logged

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