One Day, One Rose

One day, one rose
The month of June is counting by
The fallen petals mark the hours
Of the fading day,
Another dawn, the risen sun
Has woken the leaves from their slumber
Has warmed the petals of the flowers, unfurling
Open to the day ahead,
The heat of the afternoon
Has warmed the roses
In their dense thicket
Until their spicy scent is wafting
On the afternoon breeze,
Evening fell upon the island
Cooling the day
The scent dispersing
The petals of the plucked rose
Are falling,
One day, one rose
The month of June is passing by
The flower clock is ticking to the ground
Scattered petals, fleeting fragrance.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Ninth Day of Yule-Tide 2020

 On the ninth day of Yuletide my true love gave to me, nine hours of footage from Earth radio transmissions

Eight model moons for my model Saturn

Seven meal tickets for up coming astrobiology conferences

Six sided crystals

Five instrument ideas for a Titan mission probe

Four record discs for the radio telescope

Three UV fluorescing samples

And two microscope slides

To go in my science laboratory.

Eighth Day of Yule-Tide

 On the eighth day of Yule-tide my true love gave to me, eight rings for my model Saturn

Seven tour tickets for telescopes at up coming astrobiology conferences

Six sided crystals

Five environmental suit options for Titan

Four record discs for the radio telescope

Three UV fluorescing samples

And two microscope slides

To go in my science laboratory.

Seventh Day of Yule-Tide 2020

On the seventh day of Yule-tide my true love gave to me, seven event passes for up coming astrobiology conferences,

Six-sided crystals

Five mock-up tourist brochures for Titan

Four record discs for the radio telescope

Three UV fluorescing samples

And two microscope slides

To go in my science laboratory.

 

Tani fussed over her research

Fiddling with notes on presentations

Rerunning demonstrations

And becoming derailed by a new experiment

Because what if she incorporated a six-sided crystal

Infused with bioluminescence into the Titan space probe plans…

Time passed, Enceladus turned, and Tani muttered away in her lab.

A tinkling at the door caught her attention

Tani looked up, elongated head angled towards the door

Her true love approached and passed over the tinkling objects

Tani ran an arm over the objects and gasped

The words inscribed on the metal described them as event passes

For seven different upcoming astrobiology conferences

(Which is precisely what she had been preparing for)

Tani squealed and hugged her true love.

He also passed over a box compiled by various people in her life

A box with six-sided crystals

Five mock-up tourist brochures for Titan

Four record discs for the radio telescope

Three UV fluorescing samples

And two microscope slides

To go in her science laboratory.

Sixth Day of Yule-Tide 2020

 

On the sixth day of Yule-tide my true love gave to me, six sided crystals

Five Titan space-probe design options

Four record discs for the radio telescope

Three UV fluorescing samples

And two microscope slides

To go in my science laboratory.

 

Tani undulated happily through the water

Arm in arm with her true love

They squirted out of the heated submarine

Wearing heated suits

And ventured into a great cavern

In the seafloor of Enceladus

A tour guide flipped a switch

And the cavern filled with light

Light caught in towering crystals

Grown over centuries and uplifted

In this cavern

Six-sided crystals filled with light

Towering pillars

Dainty smaller crystals

Shining in the dark ocean.

Upon leaving Tani’s love bought her

A lovely six-sided crystal

To remember the day by.

And back in the lab Tani found

Five Titan space-probe design options

Four record discs for the radio telescope

Three UV fluorescing samples

And two microscope slides

To aid in her research.

Fifth Day of Yule-Tide

 On the fifth day of Yule-tide my true love gave to me, five budget signatures

For a space probe to Titan,

Four record discs for the radio telescope

Three UV fluorescing samples

And two microscope slides

To go in my science laboratory.

 

 

Tani floated in her warm cave

And dreamed of Titan

Of oceans and rivers and rains

Of hydrocarbon

Of a world where you could see the sky

From the ocean

Of a sky filled with vapors and gases and weather

Of spectrum spanning rainbows arching across the sky

Rather than billowing plumes

And the dark night of space

But still the hovering giant of Saturn

Would fill the sky.

It had been a good sixth of a year

Since the last mission to Titan

And Tani had hope

That this time she would go

That this time

She would travel the space between moons

And visit the famed Titan.

It was thus with great glee

That she heard the message left for her

In her lab

That five more benefactors

Had signed on to support the next Titan mission,

And in a neat box

Tied up with a bioluminescent ribbon

Tani found more materials to help her studies,

Four sound recording discs

Three UV fluorescent specimens

And two more microscope slides

All for her science laboratory.

Fourth Day of Yule-Tide 2020

 

On the fourth day of Yule-tide my true love gave to me, four antennae for a radio telescope

Three samples that fluoresce under UV light

And two microscope slides

To go in my science laboratory,

 

Tani hummed happily to herself

As she listened to the music of the stars

A recording based on radio wave signals

Attributed to the stars far beyond Enceladus

The crackle and rise and fall soothing

To her scientific soul.

Turning off her audio device

She squirted out into the water

Beyond the sheltering cave she called home

Towards the science laboratories at which she worked,

There she had the great honor

Of snipping the ribbon

In celebration of the new radio telescope

With four antennae strategically positioned

In a field of stone

Near the lab,

She hooked it into the sound system

And broadcast the sound of the stars

Throughout Enceladus’ ocean.

Later that night in her personal lab

She found three samples

That fluoresce in UV light

And two new slides to examine under her microscopes

In her very own science laboratory.