After the Comet

Things aren't always what they seem..

Ad-ma was a techno, and he worked for Magno Rep.,

Logging vagaries of asteroids, their orbits, speed and depth,

On the eastern shore of Atalan, his villa on the shore

He would plot triangulations, mapping comets by the score,

But his brow was creased with worry,

And his eyes were ringed with black,

For he hadn't slept these many nights

Since Agnar Kor's attack,

It had suddenly appeared from Outer

Space that gave it birth,

And the dark and dread conclusion was

It would collide with earth.

 

It was known as an erratic, potent wanderer through space,

But its orbit wasn't constant, it had been quite hard to trace,

For a week or more it could be seen, quite naked to the eye,

With its tail like whirling serpents lighting up the evening sky,

While at Ba-ha-ma the experts

Had been working on the core,

Of the huge magnetic pulser that

Might save the earth once more,

Set electrostatic charges to

Repulse the comet's head,

Change its course of pure destruction

Or the folk on earth were dead.

 

Ad-ma told his lovely partner, Neve, to pack their clothes and things,

He would take her to Ba-ha-ma, check the huge magnetic rings,

She was almost six months pregnant, would the baby still be born?

If they had to die together, they would pass within the storm

That the impact of the comet

The destructive Agnar Kor

Would unleash upon the planet

Like some planetary war,

Though if Ad-ma's calculations

Were of any use at all,

He'd beat off the dreadful comet,

Like some great magnetic ball.

 

They took off before the sunset to give purpose to his plan,

It was just an hour's flight across the breadth of Atalan,

But the pulser overheated, and the core it fairly glowed

And the scientists all panicked, quit the plant and hit the road,

There was no place they could run to

But they panicked all the same,

So when Ad-ma came to help them

All his plans went down the drain.

He took Neve back into safety in

The plane and slammed the door,

Got to 50,000 feet, to head

Away from Agnar Kor.

 

They had been aloft an hour when the comet hit the earth,

And the shock was so horrific, Neve had almost given birth,

But they watched the earth beneath them stagger, shift, and turn around

As the seas rose in a column, swept across the solid ground,

And their Atalan was wasted,

Buried underneath the sea,

As the storms destroyed the life

Of every forest, every tree,

All the continents were shattered

Every tribe that went before,

They had vanished in a moment

In the rage of Agnar Kor.

 

Ad-ma turned the plane due east, and flew until their fuel fell

'Til they came upon a place where land rose up above the swell,

Then he put it down as gently as he could upon the plain

Where the rivers bubbled brightly, and the soil was moist with rain,

Neve had stumbled from the aeroplane

And cried in wild relief,

'God has brought us to salvation,

We must strengthen our belief!'

Ad-ma smiled and said, 'This place is good

We'll build ourselves a town,

And I'll plant you hanging gardens

When the waters all go down.

 

So they settled in the country, and the earth, it settled down,

And they built their hanging gardens, and a palace in the town,

And they joined their names together so they'd never think to leave

So their children would be happy, they were known as Ad-ma Neve,

While the waters still lie over

What was once called Atalan,

And a great magnetic pulser

Water cooled, lies under sand,

Dragging vessels to the bottom

In a mystery, long gone,

While they called their baby's birthplace,

(Neve's idea) - Baby-lon.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Norma J. Jessee]

Fantastic..................... Love this . You just keep getting better.
Master Story teller. Each time I read one of your poems I think, "He'll never be able to top this." But you do. You come up with the most fantastic tales and weave them in such a way that I almost believe they are true. You are a fantastic writer, David. You imagination and writing abilities never ceases to amaze me . Keep em coming.

[Colorado Brian]

I could not have said it better myself. Perfect review.

[MomzillaNC]

Absolutely perfect! A tale of tragedy and apocalyptic destruction spun out in delightful, rolling rhyme. Your writes never cease to amaze and entertain!

oh wow... this was amazing and truly shows your unique talent... Thank you kindly for sharing...

[Woody]

I can't put it any better than the others David. simply perfect.
love the names, too.

[Valentine]

just read again and I am laughing. Kathie

[emmajoy]

Won't go into full details because i'd be here all day but, WHERE do i start?!

As ever and always, you write great metre, you write with an ending in sight from the word 'go, you fill every stanza with a beautifully worded convoluted on.going tale, and in this, David, sir, you make me smile at your quirky wit and intelligence. How often should a lady give a man full marks!

[Beccy]

Clever, intriguing, and at least as easily as true as all the other theories about how it all started.

Loved every line.

Beccy.

[Keith]

Ah yes, I did come across this on Poemhunter. Very clever.

[Rick Puetter]

Dear David,

A very enjoyable write. Especially as impacts with comets and meteors have so significantly effected the Earth's evolution (26 known mass extinctions in the last 850 million years all linked to enriched iridium layers in the earth's strata dated to these same extinctions). So the turn of the poem at the end, suggesting that this was the origin of Adam N Eve, was wonderfully clever, especially tied with the hanging gardens of Babylon reference. There are, of course, technical problems (scientific, not English) with the piece, but who cares!

Kudos! Great job.

Best regards,

Rick

[Mark]

I just howled when Chalimo explained what Ad-ma-Neve was--I didn't see it at first, partly because, until I got to the stanza where her name ended a line, I had been pronouncing it "neh-veh"! Also, Agnar-Kor--an anagram of Ragnarok, the Norse end of days--BRILLIANT! Dave, you are one of a kind for sure, to be able to incorporate such disparate bits of history and legend into such entertaining, tongue-in-cheek poetry!

[Tomás Ó C..]

A good prequel to Chris de Burgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling". A rollicking tale I really enjoyed...