Once upon a time I longed,
To be an astronaut in space.
Me: flying through the galaxy.
Exploring planets, moons, and stars.
Was boosted by the Sputnik shock.
I read of planets hot and cold.
And watched the tale of Spock unfold.
I never tired of voyaging bold.
Humanoids are everywhere.
Diverse: each world a universe
That some day might just come to be.
Out beyond infinity.
A lifetime’s travel in my mind
Has brought me back at last to find:
A planet ‘neath an azure dome.
It’s blanketed with life—my home.
And here’s the lovely crazy cast:
A million species interact.
In ways surprising, subtle, vast
This network all a single clan.
This perfect planet filled with beauty,
Spirals through the milky way.
My spaceship’s filled with luxury
Kaleidoscopic every day!
It is, quite simply put, the best.
And though I’ve not seen all the rest,
Each flower I see: creation swirled
A wonder whirling living world.
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petersironwood 
I always joke that Sputnik ruined my life, but that isn’t true. It shaped it in ways otherwise not possible. In ways that made me who I am. In ways that made me appreciate this planet and beyond and, even though my interests have always been in the arts, to marvel at Nature and the Universe and our ability to understand her incredible complexity. Thanks for reminding me.
I feel you’ve made a profound statement here, that matches my experience. I was always into environmental concerns, but I was also a big fan of sci-fi, entranced by the movie 2001, the speculative fiction writers, the Star Trek series, etc. But in more recent years those feel unreal, fantasy stories that can never happen. Parts of William Shatner’s statements after actually going into space at the age of 90 have been going around the Internet. He had a feeling of deep emptyness and a need to turn our attention back to earth. That’s how I feel, too. There is so much to be explored right here, and we’d best turn our attention to saving it, fast.
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