CETUS

GJ 3053,

a red dwarf star in the constellation of Cetus,

the Whale, 39 light-years from Earth,

has three planets orbiting it. One,

a Super-Earth almost twice the mass of the Earth,

and in the habitable zone, could have

an ocean hundreds of kilometres in depth.

So says a new study. I think

of immense pressures in lightless depths,

of landless sea swathed in red light,

of my cat I named after the constellation -

one day, over thirty years ago,

brought back by my father,

who, returning from work,

found Cetus dead, run over,

at the crossroad near our home.

I think of my cat, dead in the trunk

of the Lada, I think of those

long gone days when I was young,

when we knew no planet around

other stars, when life held

wonder and promise,

I think of my Cetus,

how he must have suffered.

I think of the immense

depths of the faraway ocean,

the darkness and pressure like death,

the end that awaits

when all wonder and promise

lies dead.

18.11.2020