Poem 2848

Relative time from departure body -- Thus, from Earth we hail. Sailing to Wolf at light-speed tardy, Cryonic-dreams of Dale. Awakened, rudely, at a mere eleven: A technical glitch, a fail. Three years to seven, it's never exact, The crew all burnt and stale. A compulsory note confirms the fact, Twenty-five years until mail. Nothing can dim the sadness I feel, Save for my faraway Dale. Androgynous android without a face Plays chess and laughs so frail. Reprogrammed to simulate the grace Of my beloved, bountiful Dale. Repairs all done -- frozen sleep begun.... A starship commences to wail. Entering Wolf's red-dwarf, m-class sun. Thawed, I recalibrate the ACF sail For low-level orbit around planet 1061. The lander is prepped to auto-bail. Message received at base Alpha Centauri -- Four years to Earth and Dale. A fuchsia sky and gravity-rich mass. I scan for colonists, to no avail. Starlight dining with my android lass, Upgrade face of porcelain-pale. I signal, farm, rave, survive and wait ... for A reply from Earth and Dale. I deflate and weep at the message reaped: She was killed by a rusty nail! On mission eve she planned and weaved, Then cloned her brain to scale. Bestowed to a droid, my darling destroyed -- 'Twas a masterful, Holy Grail code employed. We walk together the newly trail -- Zeke T. and android, Dale....