A thousand thousand years ago
There were creatures gathered around
This remarkable magic of fire
It was magic to them
Not yet knowing how to create it
Only knowing how to keep it
A thousand points of light
Scattered about this ancient world
Providing warmth for the body
Sense of safety for the spirit
Signs announcing 'we are here'
To any space faring travelers.
On this planet, for tens of millennium
Somewhere, there has been
Campfire
Not a single night, not a single day
Has past
That there has been no campfire
Civilization has grown from it
And still, somewhere, there is campfire
Native people of outback, high country,
Lost valley lands
Tend the fires their ancestors
Kindled long ago
Even civilized descendants
Snatch moments with the flames.
Rekindling a connection
With some super-sub-conscience emotion
An emotion shared by thinking creatures
Everywhere
That first symbol of the great quest
Knowledge,
Is the same throughout the universe.

I've been to a thousand planets
Of a thousand galaxies
Of a thousand times
Everywhere I find campfire
Green flames from blue rocks
Under a double moon night,
Or a kind-of oil like liquid
Extracted from a tree like creature
That burns with bright purple bubbles,
A strange alien sight,
Yet it is campfire

To be beside a campfire
On a planet
In a galaxy
A billion light years from here,
Is to be at home
In the universe.