A Geeky Little Poem of Mine.

There have been several occasions where I've wanted to be an astronomer/astrophysicist. But ultimately, I guess the only thing that I've liked about space is that I have insane dreams and hopes of flying around in it in a huge beautiful spaceship, exploring other planets. Like Futurama, Star Wars/Trek and The Fifth Element. Sometimes I wonder if I'll live long enough for this to happen.

So, I've written a little poem which represents something of these dreams, and what I think it would be like if I were an astronomer of some sort.

The Astronomer

Those feisty little points of light

that we all call the stars.

Some glow dim, some sparkle bright

Some are brilliant enigmas.

When I was young and on a pitch-black night,

They would be strewn across the sky.

But with things like telescopes and Einstein's might,

then only did I start to see why

they actually burnt with that certain red

or some other bluish hue.

Some even went all the way to black

holes that could swallow you.

On a sort of hungry mission

I embraced gravity.

I chewed on nuclear fission

and general relativity.

I kind of lost myself in

that dark abyss called space.

I used to dream that I could win

some fast-paced rocket race.

But no more, because now

I analyse grainy images.

And then I have to find out how

to explain them in the pages

of my latest publication.

There's not much time left for

growing my crazy imagination,

which leaves me a little sore.

I grapple with the mechanics

and solve some complex equations.

Working like some fanatic

bent on finding salvation.

The computer hums, a huge machine

of extensive calculating power.

Strings of data all heaving and lurching

In the background numbers hover.

I used to dream of purple planets

and deep seas of acid green.

But now as my work would have it,

there's only my computer screen.

I discuss object trajectories

and gravitational lensing of light.

Some boring yet exciting territory

but sometimes when I sleep at night

I cast off that technicality

and go back to when I was eight.

In retrofuturistic surreality

the Captain enters the stardate.

I anchor the craft and battle the wrath

of evil aliens cruel with strife.

I hope that before my human death

I'll have the cosmic ride of my life.