I’ve seen fossils of the ammonites, in lovely curving spirals,
I’ve seen children saved from certain death by modern antivirals,
I’ve seen salmon swim up waterfalls, to find their tiny brook–
And you’re asking me to trade it for the contents of one book?
I’ve seen galaxies, and nebulas of brilliant glowing gases
I’ve seen Painted Desert valleys; I’ve seen Rocky Mountain passes
I was at the Gulf of Corinth when the earth beneath me shook–
Do you really think I’d trade it for some stuff that’s in a book?
I’ve seen elephants and rhinos; I’ve seen buffalo and deer
I’ve seen humpback whales I almost could have touched, they came so near;
I’ve seen giant redwood forests, where I craned my neck to look;
Is there anything so awesome in your tiny little book?
I’ve seen microscopic beasties of a thousand different forms
I’ve seen hurricanes, tornadoes, snow and hail and thunderstorms
I’ve seen babies reach adulthood—Oh, how little time it took!
And I would not trade one heartbeat for that obsolescent book!
I’ve seen beauty that you couldn’t buy, no matter what the price;
I have tasted of life’s bounty, each ingredient and spice–
I would throw it all together in a pot, and let it cook…
And I guarantee it’s better than the contents of your book;
Yes, I’d sooner starve, than swallow all the poison in your book.
******
Inspired by, but totally not a copy of, this.
And yeah, it’s all true. Which is the best part of all.
I've seen rockets that could take a crew to orbit 'round the Earth,I've been standing by the nose of spaceships waiting in their berth.You can see it in my profile picture here, just take a look–It required a million pages; not a one was in your book.
You are a steely-eyed missile man, Johnny V.,and I wish I had seen that!
Thanks! If only my verse were so steely! There's more pictures at an old entry on my blog. Those are from the Orbiter Processing Facility. The profile pic is from the Vehicle Assembly Building, but I didn't post the photos from there because of course I only went there for work reasons, not for a tour. Of course.But yeah, as inefficient and recalcitrant as the shuttle is, it's an amazing reminder of the power of reason. Didn't nobody ever make any of that stuff work by praying, or invoking other ways of knowing, or getting all PoMo on someone's ass. Engineering works too, bitches.
For some reaon, I read that to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in my head. Fits together well, lol.
I've seen some finches give rise to two different types of birdsI know viruses mutate – you mean you haven't heard?I've read a lot and when I had my doubts I took a lookand found nothing's explained by all the crap that's in that book!*bows in deference to the mighty cuttlefish*
1. Cuttlefish, you should probably clean up. Mabus just crapped all over your blog.2.I've seen silicon and copper made into technologyAnd I've made a number-crunching chip much smaller than a fleaYou can't possibly imagine how much extra work it tookWhen folks were limited to just the contents of your book!
Thanks–done.