Home Thoughts

Cheree Cargill

I sit here watching Rigel rise

Above the trees and memories

Of home and long ago when I

Had sold my soul for just one ride

Aboard the sleek and shining ships

That outward went on starstuff spent

To seek the worlds that men had made

And marvel at the many things--

The ghostly clouds and spectral rings

The glorious imaginings that space

And time and I could bring

Together when we'd made this trip

And returned home to hill and glade

And lover's arms -- the plans we made!

And I the first to board the ship

And thought how I'd remember it,

The home, the world that I had known

Then up the ship! and outward flown --

And Rigel still begins to rise and I

Still watch through tear-blurred eyes

My home, my world, my star, my life

Climb up through Terran skies.

(Originally published in Tal-Shaya #2, copyright (c) 1974 by Cheree Cargill)