It can be said that life prevails
When probability is aligned firmly against it,
In the deepest of ocean valleys
Where no light is shone,
From a rock peeking through an arctic sea,
Or in a barren womb,
Decreed entirely inhospitable
By the miracle of modern means.
Reason insures that life
Flourishes across the cosmos,
While evidence alone
Resides only within our faith.
Circumstance, it is said,
Must be organized and tightly confined,
For unguided evolution is unlikely,
As elements left unto themselves
Are confounded.
Yet, we provide ourselves
With the delusion
That somehow
An untamed universe prevails.
Theories are defined,
Papers are published,
And in time are carefully refined,
Great symposia are called, periodically,
Attracting the most-brilliant
Of scientific like minds.
And in the end
The pursuit consumes billions,
As our Explorers and Voyagers
Are launched into the sky,
Probing the edges of the solar system
In a well-documented hunt for life.
However, the distances are measured
In light years,
Much further than the corner store,
Creating for us a quandary:
Accepting for now that
Life is really out there,
While we learn to open
The elusive time-travel door.