HERSCHEL:
We’ve broken through
The barrier of the skies
Father
We’re sitting hundreds of miles
Up in the air
It takes my breath away
Are you seeing this
Eratosthenes
The curve of the earth
Heaven’s not up here in the sky
Heaven’s down there
That must be
The Caribbean Sea
And the Amazon jungle
With rivers like veins
Pouring in an endless ocean
Home to all the fish and boats
And harbors that ever existed
Looking down at the earth
I’ve never felt so small
Yet never more part of it all
Every word we’ve ever said
Every war we ever fought
Every language that we speak
Every lesson we forgot
Every pauper, every king
Everyone and everything
Suspended in a sunbeam
We have loved
The stars too fondly
Galileo
To ever be fearful of the night
That surrounds our planet
The telescope has turned the other way
That must be
The Great Wall of China
And the Roman Empire
If you try hard enough
You can almost smell
All the flowers growing in Babylon
And feel the winds
On the Cliffs of Dover
That must be
The reign of Cleopatra
And the Ten Commandments
Wait, there’s Al-Khwarizmi
He’s with Krishna, and da Vinci
And it looks like they’re carving
A new Rosetta Stone
There’s everyone I’ve ever known
(sighs) Looking down at the earth
I’ve never felt so small
Yet never more part of it all