Mars as Bright as Venus

Dear Readers,

I find this poem of John Updike deeply stirring. Sixty thousand years ago, when Mars came close to earth, our world was a very different place. John Updike describes:

Men saw, but did not understand,
the sky a depthless spatter then;
goddess of love and god of war
were inklings in the gut for them.

And now after countless, senseless wars, deaths, destructions amid the constant struggle for love and goodness, the brown star has come so close again, “burning in the east”, while this world of ours twirls in storm of events.

Sixty thousand years from now, when the mars return to our closest proximity, what would be the state of this world? The poet describes the cosmic truth:

Small dry red planet, when you loom
again, this world will be much changed:
our loves and wars, at rest, as one,
and all our atoms rearranged.

“All our atoms rearranged” and “our loves and wars” at rest sixty thousand years from now. A changed world. Will there be any “civilizations” left to seek the beauty of poetry?

Regards,
Mahbubul Karim (Sohel)
September 27, 2003


Mars as Bright as Venus

By JOHN UPDIKE


O brown star burning in the east,
elliptic orbits bring you close;
as close as this no eye has seen
since sixty thousand years ago.

Men saw, but did not understand,
the sky a depthless spatter then;
goddess of love and god of war
were inklings in the gut for them.

Small dry red planet, when you loom
again, this world will be much changed:
our loves and wars, at rest, as one,
and all our atoms rearranged.


New York Times, September 28, 2003