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# Ode to Distant Shores
- URL: https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/ode-to-distant-shores/
- Published: 2022-03-21T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-03-21T12:00:00.000Z
- Description: Is there a worthier or nobler cause than setting foot upon a distant shore? Mankind, for all its blemishes and flaws, must widen its horizons evermore. To lie awake and stare upon the sky where alien constellations fo...
- Author: A. Gee
- Tags: Poetry, Allpoetry Import, #Import 2026-04-25 19:56

Is there a worthier or nobler cause  
than setting foot upon a distant shore?  
Mankind, for all its blemishes and flaws,  
must widen its horizons evermore.  
To lie awake and stare upon the sky  
where alien constellations form and shape  
unwritten myths. Moons wrestle with their tides,  
each seeking to be master, way up high,  
and shine through clouds that venerate and drape  
the land that the horizon then divides

The very word, horizon, paradox.  
A goal to strive for, and to never reach.  
'twas Aristotle, standing at the docks,  
and watching galleys sailing from the beach;  
'twas him that understood the Earth was round,  
the galleys' masts stayed visible, the clue.  
Those early sailors feared the siren's song,  
but celebrated when new land was found,  
and knew that as their ships winked out of view  
the planet would be forced to come along

And now as we start contemplating Mars  
debating "is it worth it" to no end,  
I rest assured the gateway to the stars  
is in our future. History will bend  
to those that seek discovery and awe,  
as it has in the past and always will.  
The star stuff that's the god in our machine  
the chemistry of life, each beak and claw  
survival is life's enviable skill  
and seeking new horizons is built in