Remix of photo by Iain Kennedy

Before Leaving Earth

by Fred D. White

Before leaving Earth, we must remember birdsong
and the way the wind sighs through trees.

We must recall how the seas became our blood
and helped transform us into star people.

Never let us forget how the mountains
shaped our resolve to venture beyond them,

or how the rivers taught us to navigate
and shape our destiny through migration.

And we must never forget the Moon,
how its golden eye wedded us forever to the sky.

Fred D. White

Fred White’s poetry has appeared in Asimov’s, Analog, Rattle, and others. A professor of English emeritus at Santa Clara University, Fred lives in Folsom, California.

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