On Coming Home

"Looking back at the Earth, I can't really describe how beautiful it is from 300 miles up. Looking down, you can tell it's a planet. The sky is black. There's just a thin blue ribbon, what we see as blue sky on Earth. You realize how small it is and how fragile the planet is." - Astronaut Mike Good All we are seeing around us is utter and absolute Blackness The image seared into our brains is Desolation a blanket of the densest darkest threads through which no light can seem to enter is above us and below us At last in the vast expanse of nothingness just a thin ribbon of blue sublime and beautiful comes into view Our collective pulse quickens Faint light can be seen! The phrase Hope springs eternal is in my mind. Our gloom is fading, for our home planet has already endured long past the point when God first said Let there be light Written May 11, 2016 for the "Just a Thin Blue Ribbon" Poetry contest of Rita A. Simmonds.