Bringing Home

Night falls
On the Forest of Luminous Trees
The tungsten fireflies flit
Like comets
In a Milky Way sky

On a world
Of alien beauties
We’ve given familiar names
So not to feel
So far from home

I lie beneath the starless darkness
Reveling in the unimaginable
Yet, nostalgic for what’s left behind

And isn’t that always
The way of the explorer
I bring along my home

In the hold
In my head
In my heart

And in every new place
Build a hearth
From memories
Never quite extinguished