Silver Liquid World - (the poem)

Survival on an alien world

Silver Water World

   
Spun out with no controls
Space craft exploded on the water
Solid impact on the emptiness
No land on this strange world 
Saved by a fractured pod
Captured capsule by gravity strong
On this giants silver waves
All else disintegrated in the impact
In an instant on the day destroyed
Somber sounds of liquid waves paraded
In their solemn prayer
Not much else remained
Crashed and sunk as pods might do
Stranded between two dim lights
Brown suns that never know the night
Glaring down from opposite directions
Both horizons mocking this surviving soul 
And lights the one and only mercury like sea
My new home light years away from anything 
Alone, alive, breathing alien thin air in desperation
Pushed on forever to survive the silver life before me
Thirst forced me to consume the foreign drink
Sweet but could mean something dire yet unforeseen
Red wings for buoyancy propel me through the water
Floating in the open is my only option
Not much else to do but to go on
Nutrients in the sea seem to sustain me
Death by hunger or by thirst are not by choice
A curse much worse than that of crashing
But I enjoy the solitude and void
My damaged scales, torn metallic wings will hold me here
Eternity is just a blink away
Oval eyes open wide to see
Flying days are over now
Under the unforgiving suns
Dragon dreams could not have hatched a better plan
From a better hardened egg or shell
Or imagined a better ending to a day
Back on the home planet from where I came 

Author's Note

This poem is the basis for my short story with the same title, which is also posted here at Writers Cafe, about a strange visitor to a remote and equally strange planet.

Reviews

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

A most guided piece, the discovery and terror in all that is new and unknown is balanced perfectly here, well done, good read.

[Earl Schumacker]

Hi Thomas, Thank you so much. I appreciate your comments. It was a fun write. Have a great day. Earl