At times I feel like Cassini
Not the French Astronomer
Who discovered the gap between Saturn\u2019s rings
And four of the planet\u2019s moons <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the robot named for him
That, for 20 years sailed through space
Became for a time a satellite of Saturn
Did important work
Then dived and died on command. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A necessary obliteration\u00a0
to protect possible life (on Titan
On Enceladus)
from this-worldly radiation
And bacterial contamination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing lasts.\u00a0
Battery spent
One final image
Nothing\u2019s good enough
To earn immortality on this earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Nor on Saturn, apparently.)
No mission or life ever completes.
Knowledge opens new mysteries.
Discoveries define the undiscovered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heroism cannot save itself.
I mean Cassini
Who died in 1712
After sailing through space for 87 years <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From Genoa to Paris
Directed the Paris Observatory
Looked at heaven through his telescope
Then went there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"