From Home

Because we have named them our friends,
The stars will one day call our children away. 

Just as our parents have seen us frantically trying 
to catch the attention of the moon, 
our children will turn a cold eye on earth 
and lunge for the stars, 
riding the long ships we made them, 
using the science we gave them. 

Seduced by their haunting, singular song, 
Our children will follow their own gaze out 
through the harboring sky. 
Into a place that does not love them, 
Toward a star that does not know them. 

Swept along by solar winds, 
they sail to the next charted bright spot, 
and are surprised to discover 
it’s nothing like they thought. 

Though wondrous, 
it’s not the wonder they sought.

Maybe their own children’s stars 
will answer what could not be asked from here. 
Maybe when you’re far enough from home 
that it’s lost in the shadows 
Can you truly see it in your heart.