Echoes from 73 years ago ~

War of the Worlds Epilogue

Gort zaps the humans



type




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 Strange














Oscilloscope trace of Sputnik beeps. 
Recorded at the RCA Communications Center
Oct. 4, 1957.





___________________________________________________________________________________

Welcome To The Party
___________________________________________________________


You are Visitor •••

(not really, this counter doesn't do anything)


Anyone for Tea?


The road to the Truth,
Is thick with uncut weeds;
As none has traveled there
In some considerable time.



Guterberg Press




"This Universe is not stranger than we imagine...
It is stranger than we can imagine."


                                                                                                                Albert E.



On-Air


<>microphone_vintage1




Rotating Clock.....cool.

VLA at Sunset


Are we alone?


 Of course not.


 
We lack, however, the one essential skill
Required to find out.

To Listen.

We simply don't know how to listen.

To the stars
~

 Least of all to each other.


And in that singular Human failing
We are most unique:


Quite alone.





LISTEN





UFO_Forest.jpg




"If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants."

                                                                                                                                          Isaac Newton · 1675
                                                                                                 

<
>
 




The Cassini spacecraft imaged this remarkable vista of Mimas
against the ring plane of Saturn in October 2005.
MIMAS_RINGS

"The stuff that dreams are made of."



Angel_Trumpets1f.psd.jpg


HAL Eye




///______"LIST OF IMAGES" ______ \\\

•Φ• Click on the image to return to this list  •Φ•


  The Rosette Nebula

  Shuttle Lift-Off

Spiral Galaxy

  The Avro Arrow

Flying Wing

X-15

SR-71 Black Bird

NOMAD

  Excellent Birds

Centaurus A

  Comet  Hyutake


crookes_radiometer_anim.gif

  The Works~ 
Click on the quill Quill_Marker2a.jpgto return:


"Order of the Pyramids"
"Game Bird"
"Deep Sky"

"Of The Sphere"

"The Machine"

"Day for Night"

"Threshold"

"Shadows and Strange"

"A Writer's Lament"

"Points of View"

"Ground Zero"

"Star-Crossed"

"The Uninvited"

"BigLight"

"Wandering Dinosaur"

"...and the full moon rises..."
      
"Flowers"

"Mirror"
"The Line"
"Solar  Winds"
"I Can't Imagine Why"

"Promise Me"
"Black Skies"

"Fixed Star To Fixed Star"
"Great Things"

"Before It Gets Light"

"Oceanus Procellarum"

"Distant Dreams"
"nth degree"
"The Sky Was Full of Wonder"




The Rosette Nebula



"ORDER OF THE PYRAMIDS"

Oft' I sat alone in wonder
Sand and stone
The blocks which thundered
Those hundred thousand men
That numbered
Crews who built
Great monuments
To keep their King's
Eternal slumber

Ancient Masters
O'er the land
Strode immortal
Through the sands
Tantalizing Modern Man
To peer amidst
These Pyramids.

                                               
                                                        
RE
Quill_Marker2a.jpg

 

A remarkable rendering
                                               "Ancient Wisdom"  Inga Nielsen
                                     






Solar Analemma
 "Analemma and the Temple of Zeus"




 

shuttle lift-off




Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC-1300
ngc1300



"Game Bird"                      
<>                                                        
The Owl sat
Pale and restless
Such a rare
And mindful bird

As he pondered
His existence
Weighing lies
He had procured

In that fading
Twilight glimmer
Setting suns
Which had no name

Vaulted blues
Were edging dimmer
Constellations
Danced aflame

Milky Way washed clean
His conscience
Shooting sparks
Betrayed his aim

Clever fowl
Maintained a silence
Voicing truth
Delays the Game.


            Quill_Marker2a.jpg


                              



"Excellent Birds"

Great flying machines in history.
Scroll down and have a look.




"Ornithopter"
Leonardo da Vinci 1485





The Wright Flyer 1903
Wright Flyer


Ryan NYP N-X-211




THE AVRO ARROW
ARROW27a.jpg



 


THE FLYING WING
FLYINGWING_072.jpg


Bell X-1




X-15 Rocket Plane
X-15.jpg
X15_072.jpg
<>

SR-71 Black Bird
SR-71_BlackBird.jpg


"NOMAD"
nomad2blk_bg.jpg






"Sputnik I"

Sputnik 1c



Discovery 1






  Cavorite Sphere

Joseph Cavor's Sphere - 1899

First Men In The Moon cinema poster

Thanks for visiting the Gallery of Excellent Birds.

Keep scrolling down if you wish.
There's a lot more to see.

· or ·

•Top of Main Page•

•List of Poems•


<>M1 · The Crab Nebula<>
Crab Nebula


M16

"Deep Sky"

Mankind
Falling through
The
Tortures
Of time

Naked
Alone

Out of
The
Fiery hells
Of those
Trillion trillion
Suns
Into the
Absolute Zero
Of the
Sky's
Deepest freeze

NGC6946 Where infinity
Grapples with
Eternity

Where only
The comets
Before us
Dared encroach

Where even
Now
The atoms
Of our
Ancestors
Stream past
At light's
Speed

Returned again
To the
Mists
Of the
Womb

Free
At last

From the
Tortures
Of time

             Jan/85/Ellis


     
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N

    "Of The Sphere"

The world speaks to us

Be it in mighty stocatto _
A thunderstorm's fury

Or as a chorus of birds
Home at last
From the air

The chant
Of a brook
Over stones

An audience of leaves
Struck by the bluster
Of summer late _ giving thanks

Warm and breezes gentle
Carry the distant moans
Of a locomotive's passing

Angry surf visits the hapless shore
Exposing whited knuckle of curled fists
She pounds relentless _ ad infinitum

Rhythms intact; the symphony plays
As the composer intended
A jewel of sound in the vacuum of dark

All is in order; save the Moon
Earth's cold unexpected companion
Showing but one circumspect face

Afraid to turn a blind eye
As gravity enshrines her
In a frigid tryst

Only angels fallen
Witness this black mazurka
Choose not to speak of it

In the end
We dance
Alone

                                                 8/23/98/Ellis      


          
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NGC-5128  "Centaurus A"




                        "THE MACHINE"


              the time machine sat stock and still
              and i its master if you will
              it stared at me and i at it
              as seconds tick'd by bit by bit

              i check'd my watch i check'd the sky
              no clues confront me by and by
              a full moon rose a red sun died               
              my lips were sealed my hands were tied

              i gazed the golden arc of stars
              a fleeting comet; deep pulsars
              their trails ablazing through the dark
              they tell a tale; and leave their mark

              t'was then a mountain blocked my view
              i peered clear 'round her; nothing new
              she fell just then, her bulk set free
              washed all unto uncertainty

              the clock was now just five to noon
              a creature stirred; biped was hewn
              it crawled from 'neath a heavy stone
              this spawn of luck and chance and bone

              no telling what would happen next
              the garden gate; the future vexed
              they ran amuck despite the view
              these children know not what they do

              flawed and graceless did they dance
              on solar flare and endless chance
              the higher call eluded them
              ignored the swing of pendulum

              the time machine was wound by fate
              maintained by chance at any rate
              so call upon her if you will
              to find she's standing very still


                                                                     3/17/97Ellis



                               
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Could this guy paint or what?
                                                               "Watch"  Gerald Murphy 1925



 "Day for Night"
 
 The hues of a vanishing sun
 Caress my soul
 In Her fading embrace
 
 Cloaks me in an ebony shroud
 Free from the blinding glow
 Of Sol's all-seeing eye
 
 It is an illusion of course
 A shadow-wall
 Behind which I seek freedom
 
 To hide (unseen)
 To think (aloud)
 To write (at my will)
 
 Only in those depths
 Does lightning flash her truth
 Glorious and fleeting
 
 Only that firmament betrays
 The arrival of meteoric
 Visitors
 
 And within this pitch alone
 Can we witness the beauty
 Of a comet's passing
 
 Against that veiled curtain
 Fireworks reveal their true
 And spectacular forms
 
 For what is day
 But a mere prelude
 To the Great Show?
 
 Without the dark there are no stars
 And without stars to wish upon~

 We are lost
                                        10/7/98Ellis                    

                                                                              
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"THRESHOLD"

ours remains a
cold and dark
indifference

we came by this folly
honestly enough
the universe simply handed to us

effortlessly as it was,
in a catastrophic outpouring
a shroud most bright

in its profound wake
a great order emerged
only to be tainted; soon enough

considering themselves
alone and privileged
they acted in kind

proved beyond doubt
to be irresponsible
and reckless

precious few sought
the answers
fewer still thought to ask

some sought peace
wondered about love,
most fought

evolution proved worthless
despite the time.
we live now, as then

on sanity's threshold

the balance tips
on tightrope
most delicate and taught

the first sunrise noted
its remarkable beauty considered~
we turned away.

                                           1/21/2000Ellis

                                
                            
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"Shadows and Strange"

Morning in the city
The first appearence of the sun
Over the lowest structure
 
The longest shadows
Are saddest
Don't you think?
 
Strange and quiet people
Tend to be
The most interesting
 
They notice more
Being noticed less
Hear more
Being heard not
And understand best
Being totally misunderstood
 
Evening in the city
The surrender of the sun
To the tallest structure
 
The longest shadows
Are saddest~
Don't you think?
 
 
                                jan/81Ellis

           
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"A Writer's Lament"

 ideas fly, left and north
 on scraps leftover,
 whatever they're worth. 

 just where did i put them?
 and what do they mean?
 have you seen my pen?

 enigmas in passing
 are etched on pulp,
 so keep us guessing.

 falling into line upon line,
 when the mood strikes.
 then; and only then.

 rhyme and meter
 tossed aside
 because i say so.

 the clock is late,
 the sky most dark,
 and stars vibrate.

 a dim haze.

 so i write;
 because that's all i have;
 all i'll ever be.

 there is no better way
 to express and expose
 what i am.

 call it what you must:
 midnite rant,
 or muse gone mad.

 thus;

 in a world that makes
 no sense whatever,
 we are the few who seek
 order.

 this is the best
 a lonely scribe can muster;
 can master.

 listen.
 listen hard;

 you have my promise:
 

 you'll hear nothing.


                            
                               ....it's a pencil!


          
Quill_Marker2a.jpg


                
                           

And now, Dr. Charles Brown describes the origin of the observable Universe:

I'm the funniest person in the world....

             
                      Thank you Doctor....



Mutts Boom.

Everybody's a comedian . . . .



poignant and hilarious





Let us now pause
for something which disintegrates
with impressive alacrity.


                 "POINTS OF VIEW"
                  (and where to see them from)

                     If we refuse to help each other,
                  Then what are we?
                     That denial comes too easily,
                  For all of us --
              It is in our nature
                    Unnatural though that may be
            We turn away
             We're afraid
              Why?
               Of what?
                Of whom?
                    Ourselves you see...
                 We~ all of us
                   Cower at the sight and sound
                  Of ourselves

                     What is this thing human anyway?
                     What is it for?
                    What in Creation's name are we for?
                    What are we supposed to do?
                    Are we doing it?
                    Are we doing it right?
                     Is there a wrong way to exist?

                   We say that north is up; south, down
                  Why is that?  Just why is that anyway?
                       Who decided which was which?
                   And when?
                  When is when anyway?
                    Maybe they got it wrong!
                  Whoever ~they~ are

                   And the names.
                    Did we get those right?
                    Whoever ~we~ are!
                     North America --
                    Yeah.  Right.
                    (or left, who's to say?)
                        How do we know which is the
                       North pole of the magnet?
                      Or that the Earth rotates
                       Counter-clockwise.
                      Clockwise? Counter-clockwise?!
                     Don't get me started!

                   Of all the human senses
                    It is only sight and sound
                   Which are possible to relay
                   Over great distances
                  At the speed of light
                  [186,262 miles per second in a vacuum]
                 If you're counting (but who's counting?)
                   Or counter-counting.
                  I don't even know why I told you that.

                And how did this talking thing get started?
                 Who taught whom to say what?
                Say what?
               About whom?
                                      ..........what?

                   I know you'll understand these words,
                 But I don't know how.
               Or why...
            Always the why of it.

                I haven't even touched on art;
                 Or music!
                 Now that was a primo concept
                     I'd like to meet that person---
                   Just go right up to them and say
                  "Hey man! -- That music thing of yours
                 Is too much!
                     How did you ever think of that?!
                   You were either very clever
                 Or bored stupid.

               Can you imagine the boredom
                 Of our ancient in the extreme ancestors?
                   Once the shock of existence wore off, I mean.
             "Hey!"
                 They must have said to each other,
            "Hey!"
                "Here comes that big yellow thing
               In the sky again!"
            
              Not exactly an evening

              At the symphony...

           Is it?


                                                                                          3-15-96 Ellis


Quill_Marker2a.jpg




     "GROUND ZERO"


Some fantastic relation

Most uncommon in size

Holds the whole mess together

Good lord knows that it tries



Have you looked around lately?

Can I ask what you saw?

Did this world treat you kindly?

Was the deal pretty raw?



There are things that I've noted

Now just what were their names?

One's a great ball and glowing

Stressing gravity's chains



So they tug one another

Interact lightning fast

Me?

 I'm running for cover~



Get ahead of the blast


                                         12/2/98Ellis


             
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"Star-Crossed"

 I peered upon
 The deepest dark,
 And nothing's
 What I saw.

Then struggle 'gainst
Full rising tide
And drowning's
What I draw.

In hollows of
A 'Big Bang' stew.
Expanding,
Speed of time.

We ran afoul,
Misunderstood;
Ridiculous:
Sublime.

A priori
Circumvents,
All efforts
To succeed.

They know not
What they do
O' Lord~

I hope

Yet still I bleed.


                                    9/6/99Ellis

      
Quill_Marker2a.jpg        
       

                    
                                                              
                           







"The Uninvited"

we scanned the dark and mystic skies
 an arrival uninvited
  we planned our sparse and metal spies
   a vision most short-sighted

so counted stars and measured rain
 the foibles of the weak
  we doubted gods and treasured pain
   of these we'd oft' times speak

the human hold was sure and strong
 its essence not denied
  yet warring nature culled the throng
   all enemies collide

scaled vast mounts and crossed all seas
  were masters of the air
   consumed the land and hacked the trees
    so stripped the planet bare

spilled the water, drowned in wine
 lords dizzied by its power
  thrilled to visions most divine
   yet puzzled when they soured

the sun had set a thousand sails
 the moon was silent still
  a great machine tipped off its rails
   now moves in for the kill

                                                         7/5/97Ellis
                                                         6/23/2007

                       Quill_Marker2a.jpg




 
                                   "BigLight"
 
 
         as much as it was that i hated to do it
         i turned on the big light, it saw clear me through it
         the chinks in my armour, the flaws in my stance
         the rust on my mettle, the dust on my pants
 
 
         the shadows it cast were as long as you please
         running rings round the planets as do birds in the trees
         so i stood for a moment, and a long one at that
         to admire the will of that Guy in the hat
 
 
         He's a pretty good artist with a fine sense of 'space'
         from a great eye for color to that passion for taste
         so He covered our canvas with brush strokes so broad
         that the vessel had shifted from even to odd
 
 
         then it turned itself over then turned inside-out
         then it turned upside-under sowing seeds of all doubt
         now we wander the cosmos with much time on our hands
         on a great ball of lightning since it fills our demands
 
 
         and the big light's still burning keeping hands o'er the hearts
         scratch the backs of the planets throwing targets at darts
         then i thought i saw Tesla or perhaps t'was a dream
         hurling lightning at Jesus, who quite thought it a scream
 
 
         and the big light was blinding so i covered my eyes
         but the glare was all-watching, she's a force i despise
         now i bought up some glasses and thick oil for the tan
         since i'm weary from fighting and i conjured a plan
 
 
         hey i'm one of the crowd at a long lonely last
         so i'll sample some dinner, it's my favourite repast
         did you hear there's a comet headed straight for our sphere?
         it's a big light personna and has nothing to fear
 

                                

                                                                                                           11/10/95 Ellis

                                                
Quill_Marker2a.jpg



      Comet Hyutake HAYUTAKE



                          "WANDERING DINOSAUR"
 
                           A rogue
                           A colossus
                           Biology run rampant
                           This beast from ages past
 
                           Together with his brethren             
                           Have known no equals
                           In all of time
 
                           The names imparted them
                           Equally magnificent
                           Brontosaurus
                           Stegosaurus
                           Tyrannosaurus Rex
 
                           King
 
                           Kings indeed
                           Each and all of them

                           They ruled this Earth
                           Blotting out the very
                           Sun and sky
                           With their presence
 
                           The ground shook a mighty quake
                           As mountains on parade
                           Roamed without aim
                           Seeking only greener pastures
 
                           Then Archaeopteryx
                           The genesis of flight
                           An evolution shared later
                           Much later~

                           By man
 
                           150 million years
                           Of absolute dominion
                           Then they vanished
 
                           And with the passing aeons
                           Reduced to a display
                           At a city museum
 
                           Reduced.
                           No.
 
                           Remarkable how proud they still are
                           Bereft of flesh and muscle
                           Still majestic
                           Still awesome

                           Still the greatest creatures
                           That ever wandered
 
                                                         may/78/ellis

<>
                                          
                                      
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"...and the full moon rises..."


The sun sets and the full moon rises;
We are not amazed.



This Universe-Machine grinds in aimless tumble
To the music of a drummer long departed.
His rhythms passed on to successive generations,
In hope they might learn the dance of the planets.
Sadly they have not.
We have managed only to run aground
In the wake of a passing ship.
Tangled helplessly amid the hopes of an
Even-tempered scale,
We are deafened by the atonal cries
Of the survivors.

And as for the progenitor of the species:
Listening; helpless.
He rests wearily on the precipice of time.
Head buried in His great hands He weeps.
It is a mournful thunder.
His tears cover the great plains
In a shower of sparks as has never been
Witnessed by humanity.
Only sheer momentum carries the Machine now.

It turns in spite of itself;
In spite of our place in it.
We are the ungrateful inheritors of this miracle.
The price of our apathy is lamentation.
An ill-wind strikes the leaves of the last dying tree.
The music it creates is a dirge.
Rows of light beyond the ridge are torches.
The last light of man shall be his first.

He did not understand.
He did not understand at all.

It was a gift.
Given freely and in good faith.

But the children of the stars
Took matters into their own unskilled hands
And botched the job wholesale.

We did not understand the totality of our existence.
Bad enough we were geocentric in our thinking;
It was egocentricity that hastened the demise.

"I am all there is"

Such nonsense.
All things were possible.
The Universe was ours.
Infinite riches lain bare for the taking.
We didn't even come close to exploring the potential.
It was only yesterday it seems when the skies cleared
To reveal a horizon to forever.
But fighting was more important;
Winning a parcel of land and hating those we drove from it
Was more important than inheriting infinity.
In the end we lived for nothing.
The efforts to guide us have all been in vain.

And our children cry.
Our children should not cry.
They should want for nothing in a universe as grand as this.
But we have left them alone and frightened.
All they can do now is wait;
For someone or something to deliver them from the maelstrom.

We should be ashamed.
The dreams are all broken and lain to waste.
Having surrendered to our selfish nature and stupidity afterall.
We should be most ashamed.
The demise is inevitable as it is imminent.

The sun sets and the full moon rises;
No one to see it.
Or to be amazed ----

It's just the moon afterall.

R. Ellis writing as Nigel Thesis.
From "The TimeNumbers"

<>
                                      
                                          

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Earthrise1

     

             "Flowers"
 
  I stood in reverent silence
  Under the oasis that is
  A pure onyx sky
 
  As a thought took root
  In my roiling mind
  And began to flower
 
  How many other
  Lonely souls,
  Might have stared back?
 
  Through this mirror,
  Dark as it is,
  Ignored and forgotten;
 
  As thoughts took root
  In their distant minds,
  And flowered?
 
            How many ___
 
 
                    How many ___
 
 
                               I cannot imagine


                          
                              
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  M31 med-1


<>                   "Mirror"

                        i pondered the mirror
                        for minutes on end
                        and wondererd the face
                        that stared back at me

                        traded my soul
                        for a handful of scraps
                        disillusioned by fates
                        in my reverie

                        a shadow of monoliths
                        blankets my view
                        these portents of faith
                        are my enemy

                        my time is in turmoil
                        I know not a friend
                        great decisions have died
                        o' serenity


                                                                12/1/97Ellis

                     
                        
                              Quill_Marker2a.jpg



When it began to rain
The 'generals' in the park
Did not abandon their troops.

They simply played.....faster.

Chess
                          <>        <>

Lightning231.jpg



<e-mail_scrollemail_anim  e-mail_scrollTrek_stamp.jpg

  • deepsky@ca.inter.net




  • "The Line"

    I chose a line
    The finest kind
    It hooked so clean
    Was cut sublime

    And on that shrine
    Dividing mine
    I raced unseen
    So moved benign

    Streaming tattered
    Folded stars
    Off'd a view
    Though scimitars

    Nearing
    Rainbow-bullet's flight
    I laughed at time
    Snared comets right

    The galaxies
    Undone by fleet
    Served distant suns
    In grand retreat

    Giant clusters
    Shrank to dust
    I thought I might
    It seemed I must

    Headlong challenge
    Dipped in dark
    No view tomorrow
    Quirk and quark

    Journey's end
    A fast surprise
    The pale blue dot
    Had met mine eyes
    Home of course

    Einstein was right:

    Again.

                                                                                  7/10/98Ellis


     
    Quill_Marker2a.jpg


    "My God, it's full of stars...."




    "Solar Winds"

    The stars flicker
    Like some hundred billion candles
    In the gale
    Of their own solar winds

    The rules of Gravity
    Are obeyed with a flawless
    Precision
    Giving a shape to time

    Great Circles
    Fall back upon themselves
    In relentless arcs
    As finale
    Dissolves to overture

    The captive planets
    Swing clockwork-like
    Trapped on an invisible plane
    In humbled audience
    To their hydrogen master

    Then appears a Great Comet
    Some enigmatic Mistress-Bride
    Teasing her mentor
    With a vacuous train
    As lovely as her stay is brief

    And a form as empty
    As her promises of love

    ~I fear that you've misunderstood,
    I never meant to stay.~

    This seems to me in passing
    Precisely what she'd say

    She seeks a stage
    And curtain calls
    Set years of light away

    So passes through the cosmos
    Spinning dreams at every port
    We thought she'd long be with us
    Yet in truth t'was only sport

    But how spectacular the apparition
    As she pirouhettes
    Amid the stars that flicker

    Some hundred billion candles

    In the gale
    Of their own
    Solar winds


    Quill_Marker2a.jpg





    "I Can't Imagine Why"

    Love is the child
    Of delicate wantsSnowflake_SEM_550.jpg
    Passive in passion
    She uncertain, flaunts
    Seductive, alluring
    She tempts as she taunts
    A masterful mistress
    A framework that haunts

    You hurt me in spite of
    The love that I gave
    And I can't imagine why

    Misguided priorities
    Lighted my way
    False-colored signposts
    The promise of day
    The dream came up empty
    The sky ashen gray
    No flowers can grow
    In the heat of the fray

    You left me in spite of
    The hours that I prayed
    So I can't imagine why

    What have you learned
    In the fields and the flocks?NGC_1512.jpg
    Tie not the hands back              
    Keep winding the clocks
    No end of the rainbow
    No ship at the docks
    Stop looking for diamonds
    In a landscape of rocks

    You're happy in spite of
    The plans that we made
    But I can't imagine why

    Heartstrings are highways
    The road of the knave
    From the end of the hallway
    To the foot of the grave

    Who'll sit beside me
    And share in my laugh?

    Ponder these musings,

    Or my epitaph?


                                  Jan/86/Ellis


               
    Quill_Marker2a.jpg

    <>

                                       "Promise Me"
                            
                             Promise me you will care
                             Promise you will understand
                             That when I stumble and fall
                             As I have before and will again
                             When I turn to look
                             You will be standing...
                             There~
                             Promise me drink when I thirst
                             And bounty when I hunger
                             Promise me laughter when there is joy
                             And a shoulder to weep upon when I ache
                             Promise me an oasis of love
                             In a desert of sorrow
                             A brilliant gem
                             In a field of stones

                             And can you promise me a friend?

                             When the weather turns dark
                             When I am impossibly alone
                             For I am alone now
                             The cityscape yawns before me
                             Sprawling
                             Like some empty giant
                             A leviathin against which
                             I am helpless
                             And a sleep that is fettered with the
                             Uncertainty of dreams
                             Promise me when I wake; you will be there
                             I need to hold you now
                             But my arms are as empty
                             As this life of mine
                             The songs have all faded
                             Captive audience set free
                             I was born of a dying sun
                             Now I am the dying son
                             Promise you will find me
                             Or at least try
                             I am so very lost today
                             All roads look the same
                             And each goes nowhere
                             Promise me a someday
                             Someday is all I have
                             Or so at least
                             It seems to me this moment
                             Promise me these things
                             If your heart says you can

                             And I will promise you
                                   The Moon

                             Even if I can't give it
     


    <>                                      Quill_Marker2a.jpg       

      BigMoon.jpg



    "Relations"

    This all related universe,
    Great numbers stand unchanged.

    Expands, contracts
    Ad infinite;
    Its curving mass estranged.

    The roiling theories intersect
    They seek to fine explain;

    But stand amiss
    'Mid ancient mists:
    Impossible's refrain.

    We're perched on nature's
    Colored time ~

    She shows save what she dares.
    All efforts to identify,
    Restrained; contained; ensnared.

    This universe is cast in stone,
    Determined and unkind.

    Old clocks that set
    The whole thing right
    Are soon to all unwind.

    Hence battles indescriminate,
    A waste of time untold.

    Earth's biped monkey idiot's
    The black sheep
    In its fold.


                                         8-14-11  RE.





    "BLACK SKIES"

    I'm seeing things
    Less clearly
    Expectation
    Bought and sold

    Now my life is over
    Nearly...
    As I'm growing
    Far too old

    A hollow soul
    That drifts alone
    A clock
    With time to spare
    A heart that beats
    A heavy stone
    A brain
    That does not care

    Through empty seas
    She'll drift away
    Her tears do not
    Deceive
    I thought to ask
    But did not say
    Of reasons for
    Her leave

    so,

    Watch another moonrise
    Catch another landslide
    Bang
    Another sun dies
    Nothing here
    But black skies

                                            85/Ellis

              Quill_Marker2a.jpg

     

    "Fixed Star to Fixed Star"
     
    The road to the truth is thick with uncut weeds
    As none has traveled there in some considerable time

    When the nights are cold and impossibly dark
    I bask in the warmth of your glow
    And we share the e'er fixed-stars
    Sails billow in the gales of the infinite
    Solar Winds~

    No shore too distant for taking
    No dream too grand too reach
     We play the wind-swept heights
    And dance on comet's tail
    All things are possible now
    Suddenly there is life
    Where only barren terrain lay
    Only a moment ago

    I turned to look
    And there ---
    On the crest of forever
    A great beauty stood

    She smiled -- held out her hand
    And I was home -- at last

    Yours is my one great truth
     
    For you are my one pure and eternal love

    Quill_Marker2a.jpg


    Aurora in Alaska




    "Great Things"

    it is when the pitch of night
    turns to the blinding warmth of dawn
    it is when deep sorrow
    turns to unbridled joy

    when the aged and worn
    re-discover their youth
    when parted lovers
    find each other's arms

    and remember their
    warm passions
    long-forgotten,
    or so it seemed

    when a dark and bitter winter
    turns to spring,
    and in that melting dew
    eager stems reach; to heaven

    when nothing is impossible
    no height too grand for scaling
    no river's rush too great,
    no world too distant for taking

    these are the things that await
    these are the things we'll meet
    hold onto forever; whatever her shape
    these are the days worth living for

    great things
    are approaching at speed
    of this
    I am certain

                                                                                                  Jan/22/98/Ellis

    Quill_Marker2a.jpg



    Voyager


    "Before It Gets Light"

    Let us flit to and about,
    the places we normally dare not go -

    Perceived only as shadows ~

    Let us speak the secrets
    only a false gloom may know -

    And entreat understanding ~

    Let us seek meaning
    with no hope of finding it -

    The search being its own end ~

    Climb as high as fate determines
    See as much as a sphere permits -

    And decode the pictures
    so far and away -

    Or at least try ~

                                        7-7-09Ellis
                            
                       
                     
    Quill_Marker2a.jpg



      



     
       "OCEANUS PROCELLARUM"
                (ocean of storms)


      ENGINES EXPLODE
      WITH A FOREBODING THUNDER
      ONLY TO ENTER A REALM
      OF IMMEASURABLE
      SILENCE

      THE FLAMES OF HADES
      BURN BENEATH
      AS THE GREAT MACHINE
      CRACKS ANCIENT GRAVITY CODES
      TO PIERCE THE ICY
    HEAVENS
     
      A DOMAIN
      WHERE THE SOLAR FURNACE
      FOR ALL ITS MAGNITUDE
      IS PERCHED
      IN ETERNAL DARKNESS

     

      AND CENTRAL TO A BALLET
      OF PHYSICS
      DESCRIBED SOLEY BY
      THE 'MECHANICS CELESTIALE'


      THIS SEA OF SPACE
      HAS FUELED OUR DREAMS
      FAR LONGER
      THAN ANY OF EARTH

      SERVING NOW AS A PROVINCE
      FOR COSMIC MARINERS
      NOT SO DIFFERENT
      FROM THEIR SEA-FARING
      FOREBEARS

      THESE SHIPS ARE STILL TALL
      WITH GUIDING STARS
      UNCHANGING
      E'ER FIXED

      A STEADY SOLAR WIND
      AT THEIR BACKS
      THEY 'WEIGH ANCHOR' AND PLUNGE
      INTO UNCHARTED WATERS
      BEYOND THE SPHERE

      BEFORE THEM
    ~
      AN OCEAN-UNIVERSE SO VAST
      THIS CRAFT FOR ALL ITS VELOCITY
      SEEMS ONLY TO EDGE
      THROUGH THE ABYSS

      THE WAY IS TREACHEROUS
      FRAUGHT WITH
      GRAVITY'S UNCERTAIN TIDES
      AND BLACK HOLE REEFS

      COSMIC SHOALS
      WHICH DISTORT AND CONFOUND
      THE FABRIC OF
      SPACE-TIME
      ITSELF

      DEEP SPACE
      TRAVELERS
      IN A DEEP
      ENDURING SLEEP

      AND WHEN THEY WAKE
      WHAT SHALL THEY SEE?

      WHAT MARVELOUS THINGS
      WILL THEY FIND?


              ~GOD SPEED~


                                                   apr/84Ellis


                            
    Quill_Marker2a.jpg

    The Orion Nebula in its entirety






                               "DISTANT DREAMS"


                            To draw upon the fantastic
                            To dream those distant dreams

                            A place unto itself

                            The mind

                            Innerspace taken to extreme

                            Where sparks dance as thought
                            A singular sun
                            Five billion years
                            And still the fire is bright

                            Life

                            Begins in our glorious heart
                            Ends in our magnificent brain
                           
                            But during interlude
                            Let there be thoughts

                            Of love
                            Of peace

                            Only then can our passing
                            Justify us

                            Let our legacy
                            Be one of nobility

                            Let that nobility
                            Taste of our thoughts

                            And let our thoughts
                            Taste of distant dreams


                                                                    
    apr/78Ellis


                                      
    Quill_Marker2a.jpg
















    "nth degree"

    we seek an orderedThese columns are several light years tall
    universe
    it seems the earth
    went ~flat~

    as slide rule honed
    equations cry
    for a second turn
    at bat

    an aeons-worth
    of fires fade
    we didn't
    stand a chance

    this solar-system
    "so-long" means
    biped just bought
    the ranch

    the "steady state"
    in disrepair
    subatoms
    come unglued

    the highest court
    is in recess
    our case
    well past review

    in truth
    it's all a crapshoot
    random chance
    to nth degree

    the scales were tippedThe Great Nebula in Orion
    by loaded odds
    the ride alone
    was free

    planet Man
    has ceased its whirl
    in brief
    it is no more

    Prime Mover
    seeks diversion
    as His apes
    a crashing bore

    I've just the time
    to write myself
    it'll only
    take a week

    this supercluster
    solar star's
    a cosmologic
    freak

    our seeds were strewn
    on solar flare
    an ill-wind
    just the same

    from Genesis
    to genocide
    a sad tune
    in refrain

    upright Man
    no fixed address
    his ~flat~
    reduced to shards

    so hold his calls
    and put his mail
    on a steamer
    to the stars

    <>                                 june/86/ellis

           
    Quill_Marker2a.jpg


    The sun does not rise
    Inasmuch
    As the Earth
    Bows to greet Her.

    And the Moon ~
    Consort to both.



    Yin&Yang1.jpg




    Oblique view of Mare Imbrium and Copernicus Crater from Apollo 17


                                                                                   "An Empire Caesar Never Dreamed Of"



    "The Sky Was Full Of Wonder"

    I thought of a great choir
    Gathered on a hill
    Voices raised in praise.

    So wonderous was their song
    That all had come to see,
    To hear better, this awesome spectacle.

    And I thought too that perhaps
    The eminent composers of our time
    Were also in attendance.

    Wagner impressed;
    Bach overjoyed;
    Beethoven; nodding approval.

    In its glory that hill
    Had become the center
    Of this universe.

    The sound now so glorious; swelling
    It reached even the most
    Distant of stars

    Until even the gods themselves became aware
    Observing these odd creatures; with a curiosity
    Which bordered envy.

    Not fully undestanding
    How such a flawed race
    Could generate such bold themes.

    How extraordinary:
    It filled the heavens
    As light filling the mind.

    And with it,

    The foundations of a bridge
    To a new reality
    Were lain.

    How wonderful


                                                  apr/85/Ellis


            
    Quill_Marker2a.jpg



                                                      VOYAGER I
    Voyager Ib
     Voyager I is currently 9.5 billion miles from Earth as the crow flies.  It has traveled farther than any
     
    human made object.  So far away that it is almost "beyond the influence of the Sun."  
     
    In 2017 it will effectively leave the solar system.   This is interstellar space.
     
      The space between the stars.
     



                                                                                                      
    Comet Halley · 1910

    Comet Halley returns in 2061


    A trick of the light ~



    See you on the Dark Side of the Moon




    Given a choice,
    I should wake upon
    That moon.

    Call it paradise;
    And explore.




    BackMoon






    "What They'll Say"

    When the end comes,
    Let them say
    We met it together.

    When the end comes,
    Let them say
    We were not afraid.

    That we met it with courage,
    Reverence, and awe.

    When the end comes,
    Let them say these things ~

    And know they were true.


    REllis
    4/2/11





    epilogue





    Please Stand By










    End Transmission