In Kenan Malik’s original talk, between these two extracts there was a linking historical section, describing the development from belief in God to belief in Science as moral arbiter. His whole talk will be published on SOF website: www.sofn.org.uk/london/km.html Short URL direct link: http://bit.ly/iBbLiH Earth Song ‘We long to make music that will melt the stars.’ FLAUBERT Not entirely, unless stars are no more than ice, their light the bright shaping of frost whose loss would leave heaven featureless.
Better to share with them the mystery that keeps each star within its galaxy, locked in a universe that never sleeps.
One quaver cannot shift a constellation’s fixed design, or tile the bars of space to prove we are made equal with the sun.
Earth’s hope must be some singing will survive, its music bright enough to melt the heart when, like dead stars, our fires are burnt out.
Edward Storey Edward Storey now lives in Wales. His latest collection Almost a Chime Child was published by Raven Books in 2010 and his New and Selected Poems are published by Rockingham Press.