Poem: "The Cybernaut"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem was inspired by a prompt from miintikwa (plus some previous discussions with mtrose2 about the future of space exploration) and crowdfunded by miintikwa, newroticgirl, and minor_architect.

The Cybernaut

The astronaut's body
is a thing of physical perfection,
able to withstand the crush of liftoff
and the nauseating release of freefall.
This is what it takes
for flesh to visit space.

The cybernaut's body
is a withered, twisted cage
from which the mind writhes toward freedom
and the cybernaut's vessel
is a mothership filled with antbots and flybots
and probes of all kinds
within which the cybernaut can
swim in the hydrocarbon lakes of Titan,
skate over the icy crust of Europa,
and soar on the endless winds of Jupiter.
This is what it takes
for the mind to go exploring.

A hale body holds the mind in a firm grasp,
demanding to be taken along for the ride --
but a feeble body allow the mind to slip loose
and moor itself in a shell of steel and silicon
to ride a rising tide of ones and zeros

pushing past frontiers where flesh can never follow.