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There was, until this time,
no interstellar vehicles,
No machines to get them to the stars.
But one day they would leave.
They would construct them or
they will have attracted them.

And then there will once again
be the whistle of the night freight.
Not the antique sort of whistle,
for sound does not carry in
interplanetary space or
in the emptiness between the stars.

But there will be something,
perhaps the flash from
magnetobrehmstrahlung,
as their starship approaches
the velocity of light.
There will be a sign
of their departure..........

Looking out on a clear night from
Their continent-sized citadels and
the vast game preserves which the
Future has brought to their Planet,
their young will dream that soon
When they are grown high in stature,
if they are very lucky,
they too will catch
The Night Freight to the Stars

Adapted from the 'Cosmic Connection', by Carl Sagan