19 2017 Space the new frontier

Flight of Fancy
by Paul Robert Sanford

Tinker Belle sprinkled us with just a little too much pixie dust,
and Peter Pan led us out the window, zooming past Neverland into space.
We saw the most wonderful things.
After we left the highest flying birds below,
we zoomed past a few airplanes
then satellites and on to the moon!

The moon was very much as one would imagine it,
all crunky with holes and dust,
not at all the kind of place to set up a cricket pitch,
so we moved on.

We were lucky to come upon Mars in its orbit
it isn’t always so easy to find.
It looked rather rusty and not at all civilized.
It’s moons were little jewels, and sister fawned over them.
Phobos – what’s the name of the one closer to Mars?
Bottomos was the reply. Served her right for asking.

The asteroids were fun.
They come in all sizes, and, since they are in space
they are quite weightless,
so it was possible to pitch several of quite good size,
although it took some effort to overcome inertia,
and we scooted in the opposite direction.

We passed Saturn’s showy display of rings at a distance,
and as we neared Jupiter’s moons
sister insisted that the baby was tired and needed to nap,
and the depths of dark cold space were hardly ideal,
so we headed back, making quite good time.

This time we made it to Neverland and had a massive lot
of jolly adventures that rivaled our trip through space
and were not nearly so cold and quiet.

If you get a chance to visit the planets of the solar system,
I suggest you eschew the company of girls and babies.