Poem: “Fermi’s Question Answered”

by Pavel Chichikov on Jun 20, 2012 in Poetry

Fermi’s Question Answered

They’ve come. They’ve come. They’ve found us,
Those Earth-devoted visitors from space
Or somewhere off the world apart and luminous,
It may be in a time not present here or anyplace

Why don’t they come to Earth, descend?
Our leaders, soldiers, dignitaries wait
With florid ceremonial, agreeable intent
And speeches of the pageantries of state

They hover overhead in probability –
Would they not if we were they, come down
To meet the representatives of world community,
The businessman, the politician, and the clown?

And they with senses tuned to what we are
Pick out the infant’s wailing and the agony
Of massacre and famine, torment, war,
And for an unknown reason they delay

Silent fall around us in an orbit
More and more eccentric, low and high,
As if they might proceed at any moment
To leave again without explaining why

Pavel
June 26, 2011