Among Paper Stars

An Ode to Robert A. Heinlein

by Mari Mitchell

Longing for Lazarus, I set sail beyond the sunset...
Have space suit will travel
To new frontiers with Methuselah’s children
I read to them stories yet to be told
Time slips on stardust as we pass the Land of Oz
Saturn turns on Polaris’ pole on well-read pages
I ask, will there finally be time enough for love

Weightless words float by...
Catching them with my library card
I hold imagination in my hands

Succumbing to Secundus we stop for tea
A number of beasts join us as Pixel pours
He offers me something to read on my trip
I sit among paper stars
As I watch the cat slip through a wall
And I know I will always be
A stranger in a strange land