A Poem from Space

I was inspired to write a poem about NASA's new rover "Curiosity" when I saw this image from an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Images taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars show a plume of dust, left, which had disappeared when 
another photo was snapped 45 minutes later. Engineers say the plume indicates the crash-landing 
of the spacecraft that delivered the rover to the Martian surface. (NASA)

Curiosity takes a Turn

I heard Arthur C. Clarke whisper from his grave

Echoes from Songs of Distant Earth

As I looked at the photos from Curiosity on Mars.

So far from Earth

The robotic cruiser has touched down

On a barren red landscape.

Her mission is to gather data

To find any possible evidence of life

To take note of even a distant notion of a cellular being.

Turning,

She sets out straight away

True to her mission

Photographing the quiet planet.

Then turning

She photographs the crash landing of the mother ship

That dropped her in this strange new place.

She registers the data that there is now no way back home.

Nothing left but to proceed as planned.

Did NASA intend for her to see that?

                                                      Charles Kinnaird

[Note: This is a first draft. To see a revision of the poem look here.]

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