I remember wondering
Whatever happened to the sunrise
As we left so early that morning
But it might as well have been midnight

There was no glimmer, there was no hope
In your one, forever open eye
Looking onward, forever upward
Somewhere above the sky

And I remember asking myself
Whatever became of the land
Towers rising from the waves
Of poison waste and electric sand

As we approached the distant sphere
I’ll admit, my courage faltered
For one brief moment, I forgot
That not one step could now be altered

Just a beam of light
Out of the silent planet where she slept
No longer home but now away
So here to stay alone I wept

And we upon that dusty ground
With boots and coats and bags
Did fall beneath the eery shadow
Of mountains shaped like hags

With long, curving noses
And fingers stretching for miles
Caves in the right places for eyes
And cracks for crooked smiles

I climbed these mountains by myself
And you stayed by the ship
But warned me not to stray too far
And also not to slip

But as I gained upon the ground
The farther did I desire
And that night I did not return to you
But stayed by my own small fire

For I was an alien on this world
And you had conquered me
Neither one of us anymore human
Than the dust beneath my feet

For humanity had a place called earth
A round and welcome home
But we raped it for all that it was worth
And left it as only a lifeless stone

That’s why we went so far away
And that’s why now I am lost
For I cannot return to you and ship
You never saw the cost

I’ve seen your cities and your skies
Covered o’er with death
When the man with nukes knocked at your door
You packed your bags and left

So this is our future as I can see
Not in tech or in wealth or in wars
But you’ll leave the Earth to rot and burn
When all that’s certain is mutually assured

For I saw no glimmer, could glance no hope
In your one, forever open eye
Looking onward, forever upward
Somewhere above the sky