Gaseous giant that you are
A swirling mystery
Prominent yet
A five year journey
To reach you;
But reach you we did
And just as Galileo told us
You have moons and debris fields;
And now we know that you
Brought us the stuff of life—
You gave us just enough heavy water
When you showered us
With asteroids
Diverted in by the power of
Your gravitational strength;
Thanks to you we are here
Surveyor of the hills and valleys
Although our residency is uncertain;
Our cameras will map you
Incessantly
Our probes will sift sort
And analyze you as best they can
And in the end Juno will die
In your arms
A victim to your charms;
What will we learn
About you
About us
About life?
Will you teach us
How to live
Or will you merely watch us
As we foolishly
Squander our
Inheritance
And then die?
Yes, Ed, our oceans contain deuterium, but not in amounts sufficient to build A-bombs. Scientists say Jupiter intervened and diverted lots of asteroids our way back in the early days shortly after Earth was formed. They also say that it came from the Big Bang, so the person to blame for bringing us just the right amounts of it for life as we know it is...the Big Guy in the Sky. Take your case to him, and leave me out of the argument. I have enough problems without going there.
As Neil Armstrong said, One small step for Man. One giant leap for mankind. This is something we can all share and take pride in. The universe has so much to teach us.
A beautiful ode to the brave people who are following in Galileo's footsteps as we march onward and outward in our tiny solar system, finding out who and why we are. As your last verses show us, the vast majority of us have a tendency to drag such lofty achievements down with foolish ignorance.
Oh! I should have been a professional astrologist/archeologist or something! Then again, if it involves applying physics, no, I have always gone fossil chipping with the kids and fossil hunting. But I could not even get out of your article written like this!! ....informative as anything!!
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Michael D.
Ron
Love ya!
Jane