BEN SANDAY

Universe

I am Odyssey. Space cradles me like

An infinite universal mother

In all directions. Black. Vast. Empty. But

At the edges there are its occupants:

A spherical array of points of light

Settled in an ebony tapestry,

Seeming still but in beautiful motion.

I dream of the suns! Hot as Hell inside,

As cold as Hades out here, they traverse

Their ordered pathways through the universe.

Light

Flaring briefly as they approach the suns,

I dream of comets on their wild orbits.

The distances unimaginable.

Entire galaxies appear as mere points

of light. Giant nebulae of bright gas

and white dust shine blue, red and violet,

If you have eyes to see, mostly wasted

On dead, cold rocks each making its own way

Through this dead, cold environment of space.

This light reveals a silver carapace.

Odyssey

I dream of Odyssey. Its metal hull

Insulates its precious cargo of life,

Takes its own route across the empty gap

Between two solar systems. It’s not meant

To be here. It is intruding where no

Human object has ever been before.

It seems lifeless but inside there is one

Sleeping form, who is suddenly awake.

I dream no more, slide slowly to the floor.

My mind is a fog and my body sore.

Awake

Nerves all feeling at once, I open my

Eyes. Light screams into my brain, a razor

scraping my thoughts. I lie in the shallows

of a beautiful river, the high sun

 illuminates my skin but gives no warmth.

I shiver in the slime, my muscles cramp

in the cold. There is no river. I lie

Like a newborn expelled from a warm womb.

Odyssey wakes up and takes me in hand.

Stale air and frost ebb away as I stand.

Others

Odyssey, a tender mother, provides

A special formula though I crave meat.

Mind and body shake like leaves in a wind

Stretching after years in hibernation.

I wash and dress and with vision restored

I check a friend. The screen is blank. Power

Failed. With racing pulse I check another

And another. My heart is in a vise!

Nine crew lie in cold boxes without life.

I shine a light in only one, my wife.

Alone

I switch on one blank screen. A flashing red

Light and warning sound leap out. I check the

Systems shown. Just one small meteorite,

A mere grain of sand, I find has smashed

A critical computer, cutting power

To some parts of Odyssey. The hole repaired

Automatically, but over years

One by one, parts crashed, our cots now coffins.

Nobody to repair the circuits blown

So now I find that I am quite alone.

Time

I stare at the screen, my thoughts now blank. How

Do I continue this mission? We were

To explore the outer system, the first

Of humankind to go this far. We must

Be close. Odyssey scans the stars and tells

Me I’m fifty times further than Pluto

From Earth! I focus on the screen. Insane!

The computers have failed us yet again.

I rub my eyes and see the date at last

A half millennium years have gone past.

Waiting

Everyone and everything I

knew has gone! Go on? Turn back? Live? Or die?

My voice, my image, my thoughts and my soul

Can be sent back in just eleven days

But this flimsy body and ship cannot.

Earth! Here I am. Where are you all?

Earth! Is someone there waiting for my call?

Watching I stare at all that I can see,

Those flecks across the universal dome,

One dot of light is my Sun, my lost home.