We’ve lost our dream to reach the far-flung stars
And yet we cheer each exoplanet found.
We send exploring robots off to Mars
But doubt we’ll see a human Marsward bound.
We’ve come to say ‘not ever’ where ‘not yet’
Was once the answer, followed by ‘one day’.
Our dreams are tempered by the limits set
by Science, that remorseless beast of ‘nay’.
We’ve learned there is so much we cannot do,
So much beyond our might and ken, and yet,
Our poets give us dreams to seek anew,
Of goals we never thought before to set.
Our dreams are smaller, but we’ll see them true,
If possible; that is what humans do.