A Space Shanty ~ a Galactic Adventure

Ever since childhood, I have had a fascination and almost obsession with space space-travel and the planets. This has wained a little over the years, but the kid in me still dreams of being able to travel through the universe at twice the speed of light,

Songs like Beach House On The Moon by Jimmy Buffet and Drops of Jupiter by Train have helped fuel these fantasies and to inspire this poem. I had fun writing A Space Shanty and hope you enjoy reading it.

I race across the Universe

Ten times the speed of light.

To work the mines of Mercury

But return to Earth each night.

The mines produce plutonium

Which powers most planets' light,

A radioactive mineral

But safe if treated right.

On Earth my form of transport

Is a helium balloon,

But my spacecraft's what I like the best

With its supersonic boom.

I was at a bar on Jupiter

Drinking space ale with a mate,

But two four-armed Saturnians

Decided on our fate.

They called my friend a Martian

But he comes from Mercury

The ensuing fight was brutal

And quite a sight to see.

Three nights in jail on Jupiter

Is not my choice of fun

In a cell with 15 aliens

And nowhere can you run.

I met a girl from Venus

At a nightclub on Neptune.

I took her to a motel

On Uranus' smallest moon.

She was a willing lover,

As Venusians always are,

And wanted me to fly her past

The Sun, our closest star.

I told her it was much too hot

Even Mercury's a test,

Besides I never had the fuel.

We'd make the Earth at best.

They say Pluto's not a planet now

But my parents think it's nice.

They live there in an igloo

'Cause the landscape's mostly ice.

I couldn't wait to get away,

I prefer a warmer place.

I split my time 'tween Earth and Mars

Or rocketing through space.

I love the rings of Saturn

I vacation there in March,

But mostly I enjoy my time

In my man-cave here on Mars.