Corona XV

by Thomas Cavazos

XV

Relativity could not protect me

From this journey. (A thousand years alone,

A sea of endless black, of points of light,

Of warm stars and the cold space in between.)

I have grown old, greyed and wasted away

In an eternity of induced sleep.

With my eyes open, I know what I am:

A dog without a home, floating, dreaming.

I see you, your smile bright against the void,

Shining like nebulae through a viewport,

Beauty viewed through a glass darkly. Sickly

I mutter (mad at last, or perhaps not)

A blue promise of happiness: Like Earth

Circling the sun, I will return to you