IT IS JUST THE MOON

Prologue

This is the beginning.
Even this beginning is just beginning.
The next forty million years will be different.
That is all we know.

IT IS JUST THE MOON

This is the world of the Moon
This world's people have flown to its moon
The moon.
Look ye and tremble
This is the world that has taken the Moon
This is the world where the Moon has footprints upon it
Of the beings who live on this world
These cities have flown to the Moon.
Look ye, and tremble
Do not fail to fear for those who cannot
Since ages past, have feared that they would not
And ages past, when millions died because they did not
Died knowing that they had not
Attained to the Moon
Fear for them
Fear these great cities for a moment
As if they are a complete surprise
And ye did not know anything about going to the Moon
And ye never knew anything about going to the Moon
And wonder what this city is, so large and big and great and vast and huge
Stupendous
So energetic
How and why is it so vast, so big?
What is it, that is so big and important?
Is it not fearsome?

I saw a snake one time
I had come up on the road
And just as I rose above the grade to see it
There was a snake, crawling across the asphalt of a rural country road
It saw me and I saw it
As soon as we saw each other a car sped by and smashed it flat
Except for its tail
The soul had fled to me in desperation
And I could see the snake's point of view
Could see for a moment with snake eyes

Beyond the horizon was a city
Above the horizon was the spirit light of a tail waving in the sky
Above the city like flexible searchlight beams
Then, I thought it was what the snake imagined the city to be
Now, I know on reflection that I saw with the eyes of the
snake soul, for in my footsteps, I knew where I was going
Wildlife is in the game we play


A distant city across the horizon
The one which was my destination
I had been there before, though the snake had not
The snake tried to rattle its tail
As if it saw a danger there
And saw no danger in dying
And knew no fear in dying
Its soul was not  afraid
Despite the recent experience of being recently killed
The city which I saw with its soul was unknown to it, and strange
It was beyond the horizon that I saw the city from its soul
And it thought, that is the danger
Moments before, the snake had known
no fear of anything  it knew.
And knew no fear of asphalt.

Within a second after it died it still knew no fear
It was not afraid of death at all
It had not feared death for millions of years
But there was fear in the world
About the cities, not because they are so fearsome,
Because they are unknown
What are they? Where did they come from? Why are they here?
"They are here because we built them," a human being can say.
They are here because we reached the Moon.
They emerged because we reached the Moon.
They emerged as soon as we knew we were going to attain the Moon.
And now they are the great nuclei of order and attainment.
And now they celebrate the Moon

The Grateful Dead were grateful and probably knew,
Certainly knew there was gratitude among the Dead
For reaching the Moon
That they sang and celebrated
It is not usual that we fear in our hearts for what the dead might think.
Yet we should
Sometimes
One has to be conscious
Of one's heart
Because sometimes you fear for unselfish reasons
Sometimes you fear for others
Sometimes you fear for something beyond yourself
If unprepared.  Prepare to meet thy doom; it is good exercise.
Know thyself.  It leaves your heart in freedom from fear.

And so many ancient heroes
Can be awakened and told "We're on the Moon"
Achilles, we are on the Moon!
Hercules, we are on the Moon!
Nero, we are on the Moon.
We are on the Moon.
List every famous man in history and issue a prayer
Of thanksgiving, understanding, to that soul,
Say, Man is on the Moon

We would have thought that had happened
When The Word was in carbon-inked newspapers around the World
It should have awakened all the dead!
It has not wakened all the dead yet.
There are sleeping dinosaurs
Even with vestigial traces of blood
Who don't know yet, or perhaps they do
That Man is on the Moon.
Oh, proud Man.  We are all on the Moon.
The World has the Moon. 
The World knows what the Moon is.
It was not to be feared.
It never will be to be feared, not now.
It's just the Moon.

O Man, know thyself
Know what being on the Moon means
For all the souls who
Waited since the Dawn of Time

Postlogue
Now it is what? - four Jupiters, Saturn plus a Jupiter
Since Man was first on the Moon
Fifty years since Luna 2 crashed on the Moon in sixty two
Crashed though did not fear death; it is still there.
If another decade passes with relative Peace in the World
Two Saturns will have passed, and six Jupiters
Most of one Uranus
Neptune will be slowing its distance
Since things man-made were on the Moon
Someday, when three Plutos pass in time
Around 2770
Peace will be automatic
Until then, great care is essential
Horrendous weapons were made in case the Moon
Or Mars or other planets had monsters on them
Now the quick know there are no beings on the
Worlds apart from Earth, except Man put them.
Peace.