When I was just a speck of dust
and floating through the verse,
I dreamed that I’d become a planet,
vast and more diverse.
As luck would have it,
there I grew—
and grew, and grew, and grew—
embracing all this “gravitation,”
now I’m round and blue.
Across my surface flows a liquid integral to life,
and as it spreads it cuts through rock,
and slices like a knife.
It nourishes organic compounds energized by light
a rather simple molecule
with rather complex might.
Without this liquid flowing freely,
flowers would not grow
the trees would wilt,
and there would be
no seeds for you to sow.
The land would dry
as breezes try
to soar beyond a gust,
and storms would rage,
and winds would howl,
and clouds would turn to dust.
And as my surface slowly dried
and mountains start to quake,
a blaze would spread and burn the land
with ashes in its wake.
And there I’d be without a sea,
a river, or a stream.
A giant rock just floating there
with little self-esteem.
But luckily for you and me
two atoms made a bond,
and now I’m covered in these oceans,
rivers, lakes, and ponds.
So here I float around the Sun
and feel it’s warm embrace.
I carry life throughout the verse
a giant rock in space.
-Tyler Saffell
There is nothing more fascinating than the splendor of space. I spend a lot of my time merely thinking about the cosmos and our place within it. I’ve spent many hours gazing through my telescope in awe of the heavens just wondering what it would be like to be out among the stars. I’ve been writing poetry for the last fifteen years, but I’ve only recently started to submit my work. I enjoy telling stories through my poetry and more importantly, writing what I am passionate about. Nothing is more satisfying to me then when I am able to both tell a story through my poems while at the same time educating with real facts. My only hope is that when someone reads one of my poems that spark of awe and inspiration ignites the same fire within them that has kept me warm for the last fifteen years.