A Space Odyssey

Outside, the night was gathering strength How swift our lightning Sputnik, Out running the speed of sound and light Shot into space with a violent jerk At a distance were luminous spheres Suspended like glowing lanterns Comets and meteors in hyper space Seemed more like diffused patterns An asteroid came whizzing towards us. I closed my eyes in dreadful shock, Fearing a terrible head on collision. Thank God! It deviated from our track! I looked at my friend seated beside Obviously not here, lost in thought! Looking down, I saw Mother Earth A luminous ball, not bigger than a sapphire dot Oh! How quickly we landed on Mars It is so different from what I had learnt Neither a barren belt of sterile terrain Nor a rugged stretch of craters burnt But a heavenly place so cool and serene Full of scintillating scenes and ravishing sights We, the emissaries from a far away land Were warmly received by a team of alien sprites The weight of the world suddenly lifted from us We bounced up and down almost floating in the air Found ourselves in a gorgeous garden With springing fountains and blossoms fair Trees were laden with dazzling gems Lagoons and lakes of liquid silver Vast expanse of tawny vistas Plains waving with luxuriant verdure What fun…! Hmm…over there, A herd of animals so strange and rare Nothing like those seen on planet Earth Grazing on red grass in a canyon of great width Our restless eyes scanning all around We were eager to explore every bit of ground Accelerating our pace in rising delight We moved forward with enthusiastic gait Sudden was the sound I heard behind Puzzled and confused I looked around And saw my mother standing near Her harsh words ringing clear "You lazy one, know this is exam time Again you can't play a dumb mime" Blunt and curt was her angry tirade Making my afternoon reverie suddenly fade I saw my open book sneering at me And my uncovered syllabus, a vast sea!