"Pathfinders we, a people of the spaceways.
No clue to guide us. Our atomic vessel
Darts at the speed of light across the vastness
Of the still Cosmos, bound for other planets
For us no day succeeds the night, nor night-time
Follows the day; perpetual night surrounds us.
Within, electric lighting mimics daytime
Which neither ends nor dawns. The yearly cycle,
The days and hours, are meaningless to us now.
We shall not know the Purpose; we shall perish
When, in an unknown orbit, children’s children
Will guide the ship that has become a planet
For us, Earth’s orphans, of our Solar System."
No clue to guide us. Our atomic vessel
Darts at the speed of light across the vastness
Of the still Cosmos, bound for other planets
For us no day succeeds the night, nor night-time
Follows the day; perpetual night surrounds us.
Within, electric lighting mimics daytime
Which neither ends nor dawns. The yearly cycle,
The days and hours, are meaningless to us now.
We shall not know the Purpose; we shall perish
When, in an unknown orbit, children’s children
Will guide the ship that has become a planet
For us, Earth’s orphans, of our Solar System."
— William Auld, La infana raso
