As noted in my article on Monday, “Europa Clipper: The Moon Mission Making Waves,” a spacecraft launches tomorrow to visit Jupiter’s moon Europa in search of hoped for evidence of life. It will carry a poem, engraved on the craft, by the U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. Here it is, from the Library of Congress website:
In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa
Arching under the night sky inky
with black expansiveness, we point
to the planets we know, wepin quick wishes on stars. From earth,
we read the sky as if it is an unerring book
of the universe, expert and evident.Still, there are mysteries below our sky:
the whale song, the songbird singing
its call in the bough of a wind-shaken tree.We are creatures of constant awe,
curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom,
at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.And it is not darkness that unites us,
not the cold distance of space, but
the offering of water, each drop of rain,each rivulet, each pulse, each vein.
O second moon, we, too, are made
of water, of vast and beckoning seas.We, too, are made of wonders, of great
and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds,
of a need to call out through the dark.
An Alterative Poem
Ms. Limón’s poem doesn’t quite capture the aliveness of Earth and the likely deadness of Europa. So, here’s one that better reflects these themes:
Earthsong
Under the vast expanse of night,
We lift our gaze to distant lights,
From Earth, our vibrant, living sphere.
We chart the paths of distant moons,
Their silent journeys through the stars,
While our world sings with life and warmth.
The wind whispers among the trees,
The ocean’s roar upon the shore,
Each sound a note in nature’s song.
We are the pulse within the veins
Of this blue jewel, our cherished home,
The spark of thought, the breath of life.
Europa, distant, icy realm,
Your secrets hide beneath the frost,
No blooming fields, no creatures roam.
No melodies grace your muted waters,
No colors burst upon your plains,
But silent cold and endless white.
Our planet teems with hues and tones,
A tapestry of life and leaf,
A symphony of beating hearts.
We feel the kiss of sun and rain,
The touch of grass beneath our feet,
The ceaseless dance of day and night.
O far-off moon, we reach to you,
Yet know the treasures that we hold
Lie here within Earth’s warm embrace.
For we are children of this soil,
Rooted deep in life’s divine design,
A story written in the stars.
And while we dream of worlds afar,
It’s here our spirits find their voice,
In Earth, the cradle of our song.