Astropoetica: Planet of Hope, by Danny Rosen

Brilliant blue light shining
          for the solar system and beyond.
Collection of nations and ecosystems;
          great expectations, indivisible,
          with liquid water for all.
          Drink up! Salud, ching ching, nostrovia.
Planet of ocean, land, and atmosphere.
          Axial spinner,
          tilting ballerina in the sky.

They tell me you are cold and uncaring
          and I know it is so.
          I have seen your glaciers come and go.
They tell me you are dying,
          and I know times are tough.
          I have seen the smoke rising
          from your forests of rain,
          smoggy tears on the cheeks
          of your young mothers in pain.
They tell us we are overdosing on confusion.
          But this doesn’t have to be true.
          You can’t believe everything you read
          in the morning news.
But I have read your rocks,
          and I’ve seen you bounce back.
Come and show me another planet
          that marvels at itself.
Endlessly growing, providing, spinning,

flinging robotic emissaries into the great unknown,
          daring whatever dragons there be.
Here is a planet wandering with such curiosity.
          Daring to:
          shift a continent,
          change the climate,
          decipher the past,
          perceive the present,
          and still dream on.
          Daring to sing a song of innocence.
          Daring to be:
The planet of hope.
          Amidst the magnificent desolation
          you sing the song of a young girl
          in a summer dress painted with daisies,
          on a grass covered hill with swans
          in the pond beyond,
          where young boys tip the canoe,
          and swim and scream to shore,
          to dry and warm in the sun
          and take to dancing around an ancient fire:
                    Swirling, twirling, spinning—
                    Daring To Keep On Spinning—
                    Reveling in the dizziness.
          With a painted smile on your face;
A happy stubborness — impossible to erase.
          Singing with glee.
          Screaming with impunity.
          Spinning for eternity.
Spinning, screaming, singing,
          so proud to be:
          tool maker sailing on the cosmic sea,
blue light special shining to infinity,
          indivisible ecosystems
          with clean water for you and me.
          Drink up!
Planet of ocean, land, and air.
          Cheers, ching ching, nostrovia.
          You tough old ballerina.

Danny Rosen directs the portable Western Sky Planetarium that he takes into schools and communities throughout Colorado and Utah providing astronomy education programs. He works a few months a year for a safari company in southern Africa teaching wilderness guides about the sky and sharing poems around the campfire. He lives with Jack the Dog in western Colorado.