Astronaut

I saw it in the paper
Pasted on front page Wall Street,
It said that you’re all grown up
And are flying to the moon;
And I can’t help but wonder
If you’ll see me far up there.

Darling, I remember you:
We used to share our classes;
I would beg for detention
Just so I’d sit next to you.
I’d bring buttercups with me
Since you hated cement walls.

I hid you from your Daddy
When he was upset at you;
We fell asleep at my place
On the scratchy, basement couch,
The pounding rain on the glass
Sung us both softly asleep.

But friends part, and life goes on,
Your dreams were always ether;
So, up there, above the world
Is living any better?
How is life inside the stars
That never could contain you?

When you get there tell me if
There is a God, and whether
He’s got the world in his hands;
Kiss Him for the both of us,
And tell Him that I miss you
Much more then He’ll ever know.

Sign our names on every rock
Reaching from the moon to Mars,
Dance naked over Venus
No one there will stare at you.
You know that I would join you
If I only learned to fly.

Sneak behind Orion’s belt,
And snatch it while he’s sleeping—
I’ll be looking every night
To see if I can spot it—
And won’t that be a sight
To confuse the scientists.

And, when in orbit sometime,
Look at the bilberry world
Maybe then you will see me,
I’ll be waving back at you.
Before I drift off to sleep
To meet you among the stars.