Amidst the vast Universe, are we alone?
Are we unique to have a Sun which has brightly shone?
I wonder, ponder, that on a scale grander,
What it means to be alive?
Two hundred billion galaxies discovered so far,
A life like ours, yet none on par.
There has to be! There has to be! says the insight,
Yet none appear in sight.
Entailing less extrospection and more introspection,
We look for not the answer, but the question.
What is life?
One that is rife on Earth, but outside, a mere dearth.
Our wish to find someone like us or someone entirely different—
Or are they the same?
For aliens they are, regardless of the claim,
Bearing no resemblance to human descent.
We are eccentric!
A hyperbole, albeit we travel an orbit elliptic,
Arrogant and Anthropocentric, a better fit,
For a thought so impolitic, defended by extremity of the statistic.
Would they be hostile? Would they be intelligent?
A reflection of us, or a futile argument?
A deep curiosity perversely juxtaposed,
With creatures like us, having minds closed.
Infinite with our limitless imagination,
We picture them with fascination—
Wicked, crooked, and evil,
Projected onto the abstract.
With seldom bouts of gracious inspiration,
A thought deemed a vicious aberration.
Reason and emotions together characterise this quest,
A voyage of thought at none’s behest.
A conscious mind questioning its rarity,
A search for someone of an equal parity.
Probability agrees, practicality declines.
Within gloomy darkness, a silver line shines.
Peeping in a narrow tube to see a broad Universe,
An astronomer lays eyes to unveil the mystery,
With a question living eons and an immortal history.
The human in him asks the question, or does the scientist?
Oblivious to the ontology, focused on the gist,
He seeks to answer whether aliens exist.
The fleeting timespan of human curiosity
Is but a mere fluctuation, a jiffy in the cosmic scale,
What is life? A question so subtle,
The solution transcends humanity and aliens.
For a conscious soul is profound,
And habitable worlds abound.
Leave a Reply