C.C. Lewis's pessimistic view of travelling
outside our own World
PRELUDE TO SPACE
An Epithaliamium
So Man, grown vigorous now,
Holds himself ripe to breed,
Daily devises how
To ejaculate his seed
And boldly fertilize
The black womb of the unconsenting skies.
Some now alive expect
(I am told) to see the large,
Steel member grow erect,
Turgid with the fierce charge
Of our whole planet's skill,
Courage, wealth, knowledge, concentrated will,
Straining with lust to stamp
Our likeness on the abyss-
Bombs, gallows, Belsen camp,
Pox, polio, Thais' kiss
Or Judas, Moloch's fires
And Torquemada's (sons resemble sires).
Shall we, when the grim shape
Roars upward, dance and sing?
Yes: if we honour rape,
If we take pride to Ring
So bountifully on space
The sperm of our long woes, our large disgrace.
C S Lewis
Well, we have 'dirtied our own doorstep' so now we are searching for another place we can exist on. Just so we can keep doing the same things we have done here on Mother Earth.
Soon, Mother Earth is going to give all of us the surprise of our life and we will probably have to go back to living in caves. It will be up to the new generations to start climbing up out of that deep pit again, which will probably take several thousand years. Never satisfied are we?