My poem5: In the memory of Carl Sagan

 

In the memory of Carl Sagan

My dear Sagan,

How it feels among the stars?

         Can you locate where we are?

This world has not changed much since you left

         The system is still dumb and deaf.

My dear Carl Sagan

Your hunter gatherers has been evolved into hunter snatcher

Your pale blue dot is now pointless.

Your cosmos doesn’t exist

Your “Humanity” remains within books countless.

 

…………Ajit Kr. Chetry

ChatGPT interpretation 

Sure! Here's a breakdown of your poem:

1. "How it feels among the stars? / Can you locate where we are?"

These lines address Carl Sagan directly, asking how it must have felt to observe the universe from the perspective of a scientist, with all the vastness and wonder of the cosmos. The second question "Can you locate where we are?" seems to express a sense of existential confusion—how small and insignificant humanity is in the grand scale of the universe.

2. "This world has not changed much since you left / The system is still dumb and deaf."

These lines suggest that despite Sagan’s efforts to inspire humanity to look beyond itself, the world hasn’t progressed significantly. "The system is still dumb and deaf" implies that the same problems, ignorance, and lack of understanding persist, even though Sagan’s messages about the cosmos and humanity’s place in it were profound.

3. "Your hunter gatherers has been evolved into hunter snatcher / Your pale blue dot is now pointless."

The first line here seems to comment on the darker side of human evolution. While humans were once "hunter-gatherers" in a natural sense, now they’ve become "hunter snatchers," perhaps suggesting that humans are more about taking and exploiting rather than living in harmony with nature.

The "pale blue dot" refers to Earth as seen from space, as Sagan famously described it. The line "now pointless" conveys a feeling of disillusionment, suggesting that the grand perspective Sagan offered—that we are all part of something much larger—has lost its meaning in today’s world, perhaps due to humanity's failure to live up to its potential.

4. "Your cosmos doesn’t exist / Your 'Humanity' remains within books countless."

This line seems to imply that the cosmic perspective Sagan cherished doesn’t seem to hold weight in today’s world. The idea of humanity’s unity and potential, as Sagan saw it, is now "within books countless"—existing only in his writings, not in real life. It reflects a sense of loss, that humanity is not living up to its potential or the vision Sagan had for it.

Overall, your poem captures a sense of disillusionment, lamenting that despite Sagan's inspirational ideas, humanity has not made the progress he hoped for. It raises important questions about the meaning of his work and whether it’s been embraced or ignored. The tone is one of reflection, sadness, and perhaps frustration, asking why we haven’t changed or evolved as much as we should have.