Thought and Space

BY RAY D. BRADBURY

    Space--thy boundaries are
      Time and time alone.
    No earth-born rocket,
      seedling skyward sown,
    Will ever reach your cold,
      infinite end,
    This power is not Man's to
      build or send.
    Great deities laugh down,
      venting their mirth,
    At struggling bipeds on
      a cloud-wrapped Earth,
    Chained solid on a war-swept,
      waning globe,
    For FATE, who witnesses,
      to pry and probe.
    BUT LIST! One weapon have
      I stronger yet!
    Prepare Infinity! And
      Gods regret!
    Thought, quick as light,
      shall pierce the veil,
    To reach the lost beginnings
      Holy Grail.
    Across the sullen void on
      soundless trail,
    Where new spawned suns and
      chilling planets wail,
    One thought shall travel
      midst the gods' playthings,
    Past cindered globes where
      choking flame still sings.
    No wall of force yet have ye
      firmly wrought,
    That chains the supreme
      strength of purest thought.
    Unleashed, without a body's
      slacking hold,
    Thought leaves the ancient
      Earth behind to mold.
    And when the galaxies have
      heeded DEATH,
    And welcomed lastly SPACE'S
      poisoned breath,
    Still shall thought travel
      as an arrow flown.
    SPACE--thy boundaries are
      TIME----AND TIME ALONE!