My Blue Marble - NaPoWriMo Day 10 Persona poem

My Blue Marble

At the age of 37, my wife gave birth to my first child

and I walked on the moon.

The letter came to my office in Flagstaff,

I knew the timing was bad, but I would go.

My life before NASA was spent mostly in caves,

we joked I would cope well with the darkness of space,

but in those three days in December ’72,

there was plenty of strange light and so little sleep.

People say I should take up a hobby,

but I can’t play chess, or golf, or collect stamps.

I look up to the sky

and judge every decision,

measure every choice I make,

against your wonder.

Now, I dream at least twice a week

of traipsing lightly on your surface

I took that photo of The Earth,

was the first to look through that view-finder

and see our Blue Marble.

Every moon-full night

I gaze at the bare beauty of your face,

384,403 miles away, but still more real to me

than any human features.

People say you are grey,

but I know your subtle hues,

your distinctive features.

People tell me I am starting to age,

I need glasses, am grey at the temples.

I spend a lot of time alone, outdoors

bird-watching and gardening

looking up to the sky.

I miss the Norwegian fjords too,

but it is your surface I hunger for.

I read the inadequacy

in everyone who hasn’t met you.

My eyes fix on their failures

I was the last person to step on to the moon,

but not the last to leave.

I still belong there.

Sarah L Dixon - Day 10    NaPoWriMo Persona poem