We Failed to Deliver Salvation

and all the while,
Stars gleam
Lord beckoning

Planet 2: Yellow and Blue
Marbling dirt shifting across
a moving planet with scattering dots
looking up at us looking down at them
We walk like toddlers falling along
What could we eat here, let alone breathe?
We ditched the land of make believe.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry
"Are you okay?"
I cannot say no
I learned this, I know
it's how I survive
that which is wrought
upon me the anger
my birth has brought.
Say yes:
"Yes."

Planet 1: Green and Red
Flower bed brown
Animal curves round
Grass is sharp
The air is strong,
winds push us back inside
That's a no, back up we go.

Spinning downwards
streaks across those gray hues
I called them angels falling,
for our wings burned up in that atmosphere.

Planet 3:
where fields are free of trees
and leaves and animals
and fruits and air
and gravity pulls at our suits.
We fall at an instant, face first contact.
A helmet cracks, Lisa shrieks until
nothing but our ears alone ring
Back, back, back.

The rumble of the choir:
Our destiny is doom;
the stars do not shine.
To rejoin the Earth means to leave behind
all that we found in space undefined
Leave Iso and Mel and Space, forget!
How could I possibly-
I cannot forget
Forgive me,
I'll fail this, too.

"Wait till you hear this,"
jittering sparkles as waves
bounce and press against
and shred through that speaker's grill
What is it?

I am alone without orbit.
But She my Star,
Pulls me towards her
You burned so bright.

Where in what world is Eden
For Her gardens many,
Plenty trees with fruit so soiled
We will not give the snake a chance!

Our songs propel us,
Onward Dance.

Forgive us of our sins, o Lord
We seek amends, we have been dutiful
Our greens once beautiful
Forgive us, o Lord




I'm sorry.

"Hey, do you see that?"
A dull blue dot
It's Earth
What a gift it was
And we spoiled it?
So, we seek our amends.

We soar through those gates of Heaven-
We seek your welcome,
we promise:
to ourselves and to You,
to deliver Salvation.

Spinning right and dodging left,
Heaven is no place for rest.
The Blue skies black terrify,
but Mel is at my side,
guiding light my own,
I feel should I fear?
That shame which builds
up from down here,
the pit of my empty stomach.

Music! Oh sound,
waves through ears and back-
extra movement: atoms bounce
electric spindles along our shoulders
I feel in it my soul smiling
Sweet music oh Soundscape
Lifting me up. This our own hymn.

"In space you can choose your own name."
My father's name for me like stone in hand
I'm free to drop it back to Earth
Dropping it, my place of birth
Where assigned to me my destiny
Now they say, the choice is up to me.

Lisa looks lost in thought
eyes closed, searching for her soul
infirmary quiet but for beeps
but those beeps mean life stirs
for all of us, lest the snake win our vain
press against that pain gained shame
fear no fear no fear will take
our bodies our minds,
our promise at stake.

In Search Of
a name, I measure myself
(in) the mirror is hard to look at
but beyond [ static ] is someone else
Me, behind layers of fear
Mel says my name is there
buried beneath, waiting

Planet 4: Years pour out
failure after failure builds doubt
but our motives and little crew makes do
even as we stare into this frosted plane
there must be something here to gain.
Our garden a metaphor,
we need no bed of flowers
but at least there must be fruit on trees.
What say Eve to her Adam,
"Snow covered horizon:
do we resist such temptation?"
We look at each other,
Mel to me, I to her
Us to Stella in place of Lisa,
who stands there staring-
eyes stabbing at this unearthly ground.

We cannot leave yet, our work yet done.
Try as we might to push on,
there is no place here to sing our song
in these white landscapes of desolation
where in what world is our Salvation?

Ship screens gleam.
Messages received from Earth,
O Lord,
"Earth has abandoned the effort for Eden"
"Irredeemable, Impossible, Unprofitable"
"Your expenses cost more than we can bear"
"Come home to Earth" and face our despair
We look at each other,
I to Mel, and Mel to me
There is something in her eyes.

"Iso, will you remember me?"
I see her standing at the airlock,
where docked, an empty ship sits still.
You'll keep looking for Eden.
I want to say it. I want to tell you.
But I don't.
I can't.
You turn to leave.

Forgive me, Mel

A rumble builds among the crowd
we will not go back, We cry and shout
but there is no choice
not for us who stayed
those of us still here, forcibly dragged
back to our births
returned to Earth
There is no reward for failing
They say it again, again, again
We Failed to Deliver Salvation

"Do you understand?"
If I say yes, he'll leave me alone (for now)
If I say no, I'll bite the stone
of anger and fury built up against all
by those factories tall; production
of our sins manifest, manufactured
depleting our hope and happiness
And they strike at their younger selves
My name is his, he branded me so
that when I learned what he taught
I'd bear what he wrought
I'd learn well and live fraught
with fear dripping down
my hands when I'm near
that end, my doom, calling me
listen Lord, He who condemned me
my self torn apart by forces
from beyond the gates above:

Will the stars see me or Will
I become One with the Earth
under skies blanketed with smoke.


Gray hues,
will I soar past you
into Heaven with wings anew?














What have I in the wreckage of fate? You!