Intergalactic RV People

Who knows how long this dusk will last.
A sun never sets in quite the same way
on two different worlds.
I could be sitting in this half light
for three earth days
or the brightness could be swallowed by Altarian night
in a micro-second.
And what about the moon or moons.
We had three last night in Zygote.
Three times romantic you said.
But all I could think of was mathematics.
Anything from one to the median five
to...what's our record... sixteen...
could pop up in the sky.
But that's why we travel isn't it?
To expect the unexpected.
And this time the air's
quite breathable for me
while you're inside sucking down nitrogen.
I'm relaxing on the driver's side running board
drinking Corditch rum and Amazon fizz
and will be here until the sun goes down.
Could be three days, could be a moment.
Could be this stuffs so strong that I go down
long before old sol does
or it sets and I'm too juiced to notice.
Meanwhile, you'll still be filling your
fourteen lungs with more of element number 7.
More math of course.
You'll miss as many moons
as I see double.

John Grey has been published recently in Agni, Hubbub, South Carolina Review and The Journal Of The American Medical Association. His latest book is “What Else Is There?” from Main Street Rag.

Find more by John Grey in the Author Index.

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