A man, one creature of Earth so tiny
gets bored of Earth
a place of such misery and not much fun,
makes a rocket, a capsule, a module
buzzes off to the moon
cautiously lands on the moon
steps on the moon
sticks a banner on the moon
experiments the moon
colonizes the moon
civilizes the moon
humanizes the moon.
Moon humanized: so similar to Earth.
A man gets bored of the moon.
"Let's head to Mars," he orders his machines.
They obey, man lands on Mars
steps on Mars
experiments
colonizes
humanizes Mars with ingenuity and art.
Mars humanized, what an outdated place.
Shall we go elsewhere?
"Sure," the apparatus reply
meekly and sophisticated.
Let's go to Venus.
A man sets foot on Venus,
sees the already seen - is this it?
idem
idem
idem.
A man will burst his mind if not going to Jupiter
to promulgate justice along with injustice
to repeat the dismay
to repeat the unrest
repetitive.
Other planets stand for other colonies.
The whole space becomes Earth-like.
A man reaches the Sun or wanders around it
just to stare-at-you?
gets bored of Earth
a place of such misery and not much fun,
makes a rocket, a capsule, a module
buzzes off to the moon
cautiously lands on the moon
steps on the moon
sticks a banner on the moon
experiments the moon
colonizes the moon
civilizes the moon
humanizes the moon.
Moon humanized: so similar to Earth.
A man gets bored of the moon.
"Let's head to Mars," he orders his machines.
They obey, man lands on Mars
steps on Mars
experiments
colonizes
humanizes Mars with ingenuity and art.
Mars humanized, what an outdated place.
Shall we go elsewhere?
"Sure," the apparatus reply
meekly and sophisticated.
Let's go to Venus.
A man sets foot on Venus,
sees the already seen - is this it?
idem
idem
idem.
A man will burst his mind if not going to Jupiter
to promulgate justice along with injustice
to repeat the dismay
to repeat the unrest
repetitive.
Other planets stand for other colonies.
The whole space becomes Earth-like.
A man reaches the Sun or wanders around it
just to stare-at-you?
You don't see that he designs
non-celestial clothes for a life in the Sun.
He sets foot and:
so boring is the Sun, a fake Spanish bull
non-celestial clothes for a life in the Sun.
He sets foot and:
so boring is the Sun, a fake Spanish bull
domesticated.
Beyond the Solar
Beyond the Solar
other systems await
to be col-
onized.
When done with them all
a man is left only
(will they be equipped?)
with the extremely difficult dangerous journey
from him to himself:
to put his foot down
on his heart
experiment
colonize
civilize
humanize
a man
discovering in his own unexplored
to be col-
onized.
When done with them all
a man is left only
(will they be equipped?)
with the extremely difficult dangerous journey
from him to himself:
to put his foot down
on his heart
experiment
colonize
civilize
humanize
a man
discovering in his own unexplored
innards
the perennial, unsuspected joy
of living together.
the perennial, unsuspected joy
of living together.
Original poem: 'O homem; as viagens', by Carlos Drummond de Andrade
In: 'As Impurezas do Branco', 1973