Sometimes I think I've lived too long

But in my mind I know that's wrong.

The years I've lived are not too much

Compared to great grandma such-and-such

Adults bloom from a child's stem

I know someday I'll be like them.

And all grown up I'd sit and sigh,

At a ripe old age be ready to die.

I'd rather go with childhood's grace

Still written on my untouched face.

A brow with grown years still unknown

Preserved in each buried bone.

Not that I'm ungrateful for life

The chance to someday be a wife

And raise up children of my own

Who someday too, will be all grown.

But I've seen enough life in these few years

Untainted by adulthood's tears.

I've lived this time in perfect ways

With hope and love and childhood plays.

Sometimes I think I've lived too long.

Let me go now while still this song

Of youth plays on my rosy lips

Unmarred by age and its eclipse.

I fell asleep at half past ten,

waking up at nine.

I go to fix my hair and face,

But I already look fine.

I sip my hot, fresh coffee

My lipstick stays in place,

I drive to work, no hurry,

strole in at a leisurley pace.

"Good morning, boss," they tell me

Smiles all around,

I sigh out contently,

Not a worry to be found.

I walk into the house I own,

My kitties greet me at the door,

I can't wait for tomorrow,

when I get to do it again once more.

Mommy and me are splashing and walking. Our faces are wet. Cars keep throwing water.

A giant bus is getting closer. It slows down, then stops. The doors crash open.

Mommy picks me up and puts me on the stairs. We climb up, up, up! The man screams. I got scared. He's mean.

Mommy throws money and we go away from him. Mommy picks me up and we sit down. The man is screaming again. I hide with mommy's wet, yellow plastic. It's cold.

The bus jumps. Mommy and me bump and laugh. The bad man screams again. The bus stops and the doors crash open again.

This little old lady climbs up, up, up! She throws money. Then the bad man screams. The lady says, "That's my seat." She frowns. Her face is folded and had lines all over.

Mommy looks up and smiles. "Buenos dias." I look at mommy and smile.

The old lady smacks mommy's face. We almost fall from the seats. Mommy cries. I cry. The bad man screams. The ugly lady screams.

Someone from the back of the bus says in Spanish, "The front of the bus is for white people only, and she gets us and we go.

Hey Jude

All you need is love

Yesterday

I saw her standing there

Lady Madonna

She loves you

“Well that’s pretty obvious: it was the adventure of it. As Dr. George Mallory put it in regards to Mount Everest on old Earth: because it was there. Our ancestors had an opportunity to see the stars and so they did.”

“That’s not true. They left because they had to. The oceans were acidified, the atmosphere was getting too hot for comfortable habitation, populations were out of control, resources of all kinds were starting to run into the scarcity wall – need I go on?”

“You’re such a pessimist, Cyn. Humanity had been looking at Earth’s moon since they could look up to the stars. The desire to leave Earth was always present.”

“That’s true enough, Bright. Yet they left out of necessity. None of those billions of mongrels actually got up off their asses to explore a new solar system – or even a new planet in person – until their backs were up against it. With no choice left the evacuations then started.”

“Come now! The ancient combustion rocket-engine craft were exploring the moon and sent their probes to Mars. More than a hundred years before the evacuations the Deep Black and Yuǎn de Jiàn Tóu probes with the Shen-Fukawa FTL drives were exploring the closest star systems to Earth. Why? Because they could. It was an adventure. The same adventurous spirit which caused ancient Chinese to set sail to distant lands, the American pioneers to conquer their wilderness, and hundreds of early astronauts to reach up to ‘touch the face of God’ as they said.”

“Psh! Nonsense. The evacuations were a necessary act! We’ve been over this! The irradiated landscapes made an impossible task out of feeding so many people, renewable energies proved not to be the magical cure-all to the world’s energy crisis, and regional strife from ineffective governance pitted the best minds of humanity against one another. Those who didn’t kill each other had enough good sense to cooperate long enough to get themselves to safety. With that action the colonies were born.”

“Now who’s not telling the truth, Cyn? If that was the case: why were Rigel and Axis and Wangxia founded? Those were done long before the evacuations. I say it was because of the opportunity to explore. The human heart has always desired this, as my aforementioned examples prove.”

“Bright, you frustrate me… I can’t deny that truth. Perhaps the reason our ancestors left Earth was for multiple reasons, then.”

“I suppose I can agree to that notion. Humanity has rarely ever done anything for one reason alone.”

“Good then that's settled. However, as we sit here in orbit above this long-abandoned, poisonous mud ball I have to wonder: why did we come back?”