Royal Rose Spaceship

Welcome aboard This is the Royal Rose Spaceship Heading to the future Please put your seat belt on And be aware to the instructions: The future is a faded song And the way up is the way down, The way forward is the way back. You cannot face it steadily, But this thing is sure, That time is no healer: the patient is no longer here. When the trip starts, please relax To the sleepy rhythm of a hundred hours. Fare forward, travellers! Not escaping from the past Into different lives, or into any future; You are not the same people who left that station Or who will arrive at any terminus, While the narrowing rails slide together behind you; You shall not think 'the past is finished' Or 'the future is before us'. (Welcome aboard) (This is the Royal Rose Spaceship Heading to the future) 'Fare forward, you who think that you are voyaging; You are not those who saw the harbour Receding, or those who will disembark. Here between the hither and the farther shore While time is withdrawn, consider the future And the past with an equal mind. O voyagers, O seamen, You who came to port, and you whose bodies Will suffer the trial and judgement of the sea, Or whatever event, this is your real destination.' Not fare well, But fare forward, voyagers.