Tire Tracks & Footfalls: to the

rhythm of I love you

​

She takes his hand and looks up

into a sky full of lights-

both man and nature-made.

Stars and streetlights

suns and billboards

planets and glowing windows. 

 

They are awash, afloat, 

wholly engulfed by the eyes of the other. 

And yet

cradled by a world so full of love

that the bounds of our atmosphere could not contain it.

 

And so we shot our love into the stratosphere. 

Sent our love to Mars with Opportunity.

Two souls stand connected on a summer street 

so taken with each other that they forget how lucky they are

to love in the same world as those

who loved a little robot with barely any chance at all.

 

Who loved her up to Mars and across its surface.

Loved her as her life became a matter of years, not days.

Loved her through the fateful dust storm.

Loved her through her slumber. 

Loved her anyways.

 

Did you know we sang to her?

As she lay there, in her sleep. 

We sang her classics

and rock.

Here comes the sun

I will survive.

Dust in the wind.

Keep yourself alive. 

We sang to her, present by a bedside we could not reach.

 

Until it became clear,

Opportunity had passed us by.

 

And what did we lovers do? 

When we knew there was nothing more to be done?

 

We sang her a love song. 

I’ll be seeing you. 

​

Let us bow our heads and pray-

That this pair

on the corner

on the street

under the sky full of stars

feels a love as strong as opportunity. 

Walks together along one path

and every footfall beats into the bustling street

A rhythm-

I love you I love you I love you.