By their spaceships ye shall know them
by Jo Walton


                              

(In memory of Arthur C. Clarke)

Snatch the dreampulse,

the sunbounce

reflecting off fins of slim rocketships

rising from steaming spaceports,

guided by sliderules

(or logbooks,

or ten ton multivax

that take a break to calculate dates

but dream themselves half-way human,)

rising, rising, faster than light,

the double star, the fusion drive flash,

that contrail in the sunset

beauty in mastery,

outward, upward,

to coruscation decoration galaxies,

universe held in our grasp

because we don't need heaven

not while we have

the future perfect.

 

 

 

 

About the Author:

Jo Walton is the author of seven fantasy and science fiction novels, with an eighth, Lifelode, due out from NESFA in February. They're also publishing a poetry collection, Sibyls and Spaceships, which contains several poems previously seen right here. She comes from Wales, but lives in Montreal.

 

 

 


 


Poem © 2009 Jo Walton.