WILL YOU BE HERE?
When swollen Sun burns red the sky,
Will you be salty basin dry?
When Moon is just a distant speck,
Will you no longer coastlines wreck?
When Venus orbits sun no more,
Will you, like Mars, be endless shore?
When comet last has Sunward plunged,
Will you be memory expunged?
When you were born, eternal seemed —
Of future never-ending dreamed.
As planet cooled and you condensed,
Mortality yours ever sensed?
For billion years, you lived alone,
No friend amid your soupy foam,
Except the Moon that daily stretched
You thick and thin so shorelines etched.
Created life in your abyss
(With help from Earth’s volcanic hiss),
And at your surface algae formed
While Sunlight blazed and lightning stormed.
The planet’s climate you’ve controlled,
Preventing both too hot, too cold.
When comets strike and foul the air,
You scrub it clean like never there.
Perceive you that the Earth rotates
At subtly ever-slowing rate
So day approaches length of year?
When equalized, will you be here?
For once its hydrogen’s consumed,
The mighty Sun itself is doomed.
And though you served the planet well,
You’ll vaporize come final hell.
(published in POETIC LICENSE, May 2000, p. 15)
Author Bio:
I am a Professional Engineer who has been writing poetry since 1990. I am an incorrigible rhymer, tending toward the skeptical/cynical regarding daily life. I have been fortunate to have been published in poetry magazines and on-line journals such as NUTHOUSE, MOTHER EARTH INTERNATIONAL, FEELINGS/POETS’ PAPER, MÖBIUS (when Jean Hull Herman published), PABLO LENNIS, MUSE OF FIRE, SO YOUNG!, THE AARDVARK ADVENTURER, POETIC LICENSE, THUMBPRINTS, UNLIKELY STORIES, BIBLIOPHILOS, FULLOSIA PRESS, NOMAD’S CHOIR, HIDDEN OAK, PABLO LENNIS, POETSESPRESSO, SOUL FOUNTAIN, WRITER’S JOURNAL, ATLANTIC PACIFIC PRESS, DERONDA REVIEW, LYRIC, THE STORYTELLER, WRITE ON! and DANA LITERARY SOCIETY.