To the makers of music – all worlds, all times

A media antiwar poem

Hurling towards infinity
     a golden record —
Humanity's Mixtape.

Purposefully perfectly-etched
     in hopes to woo
     an unknown admirer.

Side A
- Greetings in 55 Languages 
- Sounds of the Earth 
- Brandenburg Concerto 
- Life Signs 

Side B
- Whispers of World Wars
- Religious Refrains
- Songs of Slavery 
- Cries of Civil Conflicts

But our collective voice still 
     awkwardly cracks
as we repeated 
     the adolescent mistake —
our mixtape was 
     narcissistic and vain.
A boastful ballad 
     instead of a loving lament.

We don't have the gold in the ground
     to gild over our plastic core —
Maybe one day, Voyager reappears
     with "return to sender" 
     marked in rejection red.

Endlessly spinning,
     we can place the needle 
     back on the glorious disc.
Humanity's hope will 
     glide from the grooves —
     awakening the air,
          if we care.

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Inspired by the Golden Record on the Voyager I space probe. Freshly recalled to memory by

Justin Patrick Moore

‘s The Radio Phonic Laboratory.