When I forget that humans are amazing,
I remember a robot on Mars
small, humming, alone beneath
a red and endless sky.
Curiosity,
whose voice is only vibration,
whose breath is static and dust,
once sang Happy Birthday to itself.
The song came not from lips or lungs,
but from the clever hum of science
a shift in pitch, a buzzing note,
a tune coaxed out of circuitry and love.
Back on Earth,
in a room full of brilliant fools,
someone baked a cake,
someone smiled through tears,
and together they listened
to a faraway machine
singing to itself
two hundred twenty-five million kilometers away.
We build such things,
we humans
machines that sing,
songs that echo through stars,
and gestures so tender
they make even Mars feel less alone.
That’s us.
And it’s beautiful.