A PHOTOGRAPH OF HOME

By Philip Quirke

February 14, 1990, Valentine’s Day.

Voyager 1 photographed a Pale Blue Dot,

a tiny fragile speck in the cosmic expanse.

This is planet earth, in a vast emptiness, it seems,

but it teems with energy and potential,

and only we humans aware of our place

in this space and in this time.

At 3.7 billion miles from the sun

Voyager’s human-engineered eye

focussed with precision - and maybe

with love and melancholy - on all it came from.

By physics and maths, and space-craft genius,

all observers are invited, through this moment,

to experience a glimpse of Ultimate Mystery.