[to Ray Bradbury]
Mars will not be
the planet that you reach from
the inside, as if you had the key.
it will whirl off, into an Infinite sea,
scattering into little rubies;
a scatter pin on the field of the nights
you will rest,
but not quite, with one window cracked;
the antique mirrors
seized with a longing to look back on
a single footprint in the red dust;
a child's hand imprinted on clay
retrieved from old disasters.
or the Last Day.
Mars will not be a bent word straightened
between one party and another;
a radical cure for those who stutter;
an Ark impelled forward
past all we can't endure on earth;
nor the signet nor the crown of Space, rebirths,
though you will race to it with both hands open
as if it had a Heart
intending to intending to...
what you can never start;
though others coming after
like a carmine afterthought,
may, half dazzled stop- and marvel:
who was here, is this the spot...
then gather up carelessly,
the nets you dropped.
mary angela douglas 14 january 2016
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem