I was cleaning out some drawers this week and found a large manilla envelope. I had forgotten about it for years, just stuck away like that. I recognized it immediately. It contained poems I wrote way back in the 1980's. I recall it as my "Mother Earth News" period in my life. I was very introspective and inquisitive.....well, that was back in my youth.......but among these old poems, which I got such a kick out of reading, was a poem about Carl Sagan...his teachings were a huge part of my life back then. Listening to Carl Sagan and watching his tv showing, reading his articles and books, was like reading a great Stephen King book, only Carl was not writing fiction, he was writing about science and making it the most interesting of subjects...He had a habit of always saying we are made of "star stuff", meaning that the asteroids (or something) brought the beginnings of lifeforms on earth from the far reaches of the cosmos.......he didn' t only say it, he preached it, he pounded it into our heads....but we all loved him and was sad that he left us at the early age of 62, back in 1999.
So here is the poem I wrote two decades ago.....
To Carl Sagan.....
Who once uttered those now famous words "Billions and billions".
Whose chizled profile has enthralled and thrilled millions.
Who was told as a child "They're lights in the sky, kid."
And grew to a man of scientific wit.
To the man who made science a "Cosmic Connection"
And polished his speech to undeniable perfection.
He is often Fulminant and, yes, opinionated,
But has "billions" of explanations for what he has stated.
We absorb and ponder on what you are sayng,
We calculate and understand what you're relaying .
But, Alas, Dr. Sagan, enough is enough,
You've convinced us already, we're made of "star stuff".
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