Stargazers and Seafarers

Should pursuit of truth be our only aim,
If some intellectual promise we show?
Or on some business must we stake our claim,
And tend the tree on which money may grow?


Shunning this tree for the Tree of Knowledge,
Thinkers might mock other treasure-hunters.
Complacent in their learning-born privilege...
Budged by nothing are these high-horse mounters!


From stories of how treasure-hunters fared...
It is plain that fortune favours the brave!
Taller than the thinkers who at skies stared...
Stand those who with their hands help new paths pave!


But this means not that all who at stars gaze,
Squander their energies and live in vain!
Their sightings of the Sky helped map Earth's maze,
Their pictures helped sailors reach home again!


Of map and compass bereft, ships are doomed;
Thinker's Mind these journeys possible made.
Sailor's instincts saved the day when storms loomed,
But could they, without maps, set sail unafraid?


The Thinker and Explorer both have their place;
Neither one can solely be called greater.
Together they guide the whole human race...
Harnessing the Mind to conquer Matter!

13th January 2009
(Seaver Science Libary,
University of Southern California)