Per Ardua Ad Astra

...inspired by 'Science-Fiction Cradlesong' by C.S. Lewis Were we to try for heaven, by dust and stars be riven to lust for far off places where we might find strange faces, the cost could be pre-emptive, marginalize incentive. In tubes of strengthened metal to demonstrate our mettle, at speeds defying gravity for honour or depravity, unknown manifestations might try and test our patience. Distances beyond our ken, regions never seen by men, from earth's fair confines to the skies, is this judicious? ...is it wise? black as ink and unappealing, drear is this infinite ceiling! Perhaps we should be circumspect, think twice before we genuflect, raise space to a divinity, but worship what we sense and see, the majesty of dales and hills, for space may aggravate our ills. *Lewis died in 1963, 6 years before man landed on the moon. **'through adversity to the stars,' the motto of the Royal Air Force.