singularity

my great-uncle gave my father a book
and it sits on the shelf at home
proclaiming "we are not alone,"
to the world
and to those who might nurse
the self-important belief
that we are the only intelligent life in
this vast universe

but i think
that what it's really saying
is "we don't want to be alone,"
to think that this experience
is unshared
because even with the other 6 billion
he's wrong

we are all very much alone.

(and it's not all bad;
there are many things better done in private)

lines in green added 2.21.09 to mitigate the angst-y aspect of this.