To Sail the Stars

You can sail the stars above
Just like you can sail the seas,
Spinning rivers of the void
Lined with stars and galaxies.
Diamond sparkle light-shows
Floating there for all to see,
In the velvet darkness 'round
My star-sailing fleet.
Intersteller merchant men-
We fly from start to star
"To see the universe" they said,
But no one ever meant this far.

If I were a hero, baby
I'd walk my way to you
And ask you to forgive the pain
That I have put you through.
Or if I were a richer man
I'd give it all to you,
and hope that you could see your love
Was all I'd ask of you.
There's been so many, many stars
And planets I have seen
But with you is where I've wished
That I had always been.

My father was a sailor-man
On the seas in his own time,
But my seas they sparkle on
With no reason and no rhyme.
Home- it seems so far away-
Further yet than I can see,
But with you within my heart
I can roam the galaxies.
When one day my ship sails in
To our own home port-of-call
I plan to leave the fleet
for our planet- once so small.

All this drifting, sailing on-
-Forever and a day,
Has only servedTo teach me that

Home is
Where I want to stay.
And when that I'm within
Your arms once more,
You'll see
What it means to me-
No greater treasure than your smile
In all the galaxy.

Dan Hollifield (Aphelion's Editor, by the way) was born in 1957, at almost the same minute that Sputnik II was launched. This seems to have warped his point of view in the fact that he has always been rather a nut on the subject of spaceflight. He lives in Athens, Ga. USA. More biographical info can be found at The Mare Inebrium website- if you need that sort of thing.

Find more by Jim Parnell and Dan L. Hollifield in the Author Index.

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