Perihelion

If a comet's orbital radius is x, it will return to a point y in z years. So if this one came by on my birthday, where was it ten years ago? Was it running away from meteors? Avoiding a collision with a Jovian moon? Or was it out there, far away, getting cold in an eon of darkness?

To everything there is a season.

In the year 2043, this comet will have summer. By then, my rocketship will be finished, and I will go and meet the comett in the neighborhood of Mars. I will catch it with titanium grappling hooks as it rushes by. Reel myself on. Drill deep. Carve out a hole. Line it with thermal fiber, battery-powered heating, and finally, green silk brocade. And then I will sleep.

When I wake up, it will be 2095. I will crawl up the hole towards the light and enjoy a few years of summer, open a can of beer, and, at perihelion, jump off towards the sun.

Find your own comet. 

(ANOTHER STORY) (POEMS)