The great red rocket Artemis
(Sister of Apollo)
Powers into the night sky
Heading for the moon.
But why Artemis?
Why not Eos
(Aurora daughter of Hyperion)
Who represents the goddess-like power of the dawn
To wipe all sins away.
For surely the launching of this rocket
Signals the dawning (or is it the spawning)
Of ever more powerful rockets
That will banish the long night of evil.
Says mission manager, Mike Sarafin,
"Today, we got to witness the world's most powerful rocket
Take the Earth by its edges
And shake the wicked out of it,"
The passage he is quoting is from the Book of Job (38: 41).
It is lifted from God's triumphant monologue
Where He is revealing His omnipotence to Job:
God says:
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, . . . Have you commanded the morning since your days began, And caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?" . . . (God continues:) "Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, That you may take it to its territory, That you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then, Or because the number of your days is great? Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth? "Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt, To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, A wilderness in which there is no man; To satisfy the desolate waste, And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?"
I'll tell you something.
Even though I don't believe in God as such,
It seems a bit reckless to plagiarize His speech
Just to get in good with the boss
At the launching
Of just another rocket to the moon.
..............
I was aware of the power of the poetry in the Book Of Job, but had forgotten how much the voice of Yahweh, in His speeches, reveals the inner workings of His mind and personality. Yahweh is sort of on the defensive in Job, even though He is omnipotent. In the above speech to Job, He is laying out his resume, in case his character and powers were ever seriously in doubt (which is the case in the Book of Job); he is spelling out "DON'T MESS WITH ME". It was the mission manager's quoting Job without crediting Yahweh for the language and Sarafin's audacity in confusing the power of the rocket named after a Greek goddess with the omnipotence of Yahweh, that pushed me to write this poem as a way of reigning in the reckless hubris of NASA. Note: I find it amusing that the name Sarafin, sounds enough like Seraphim to conflate Sarafin with the archetype of the fallen angel (Lucifer), who, in Job (as Satan) is baiting Yahweh so that He will take out his anger on Job.
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