The Spacewalk

The walls around me were speckled with glitter,
the canvas streaked with purple and blue.
The stardust stretched from Mercury to Jupiter,
all blotches of paint stood unreal but true.

I drifted into earthworks of nothingness,
not believing what was before me.
My limbs felt numb and motionless,
basking in the phosphorescent glory.

My intemperate eyes threatened to glisten,
but a pious part of me was hopeful.
That part of me that I had yet to christen,
yet to suppress—all else was woeful.

Distantly, I pondered—what was it all for?
All the fight, all the resistance,
all the protesting, all the wars…
all to be wiped from existence?

Finally, we were being prolific!
Finally, we were being collaborative!
Finally, we were being critics!
Finally, we were being cogitative!

And now… it was all gone.
In a sudden, nearly fleeting moment,
like an “X” being drawn
on the canvas, like a useless component,

our scintillant jewel, our beloved planet
in the vast, despondent vacuum of space—
O beautiful globe, our land of enchantment!—
was gone in the blink of an eye, totally erased.

It was a sight to behold, I thought sadly,
One we took too much for granted.
We stripped it of life, treated it badly…
It was too much that we demanded.

The spot that once held our emerald
was now alight with brilliant flames.
The sun itself seemed to tremble
before this new change of games.

Humanity should have figured that
we wouldn’t live past 2060, I supposed.
It wasn’t difficult to picture that—
humankind with foresight decomposed.

The current of fiery tides neared,
swallowing the ISS whole.
Along with it, all my crew disappeared,
further puncturing my soul.

But down below me,
my friends, my family, my life,
all those who know me,
all that lovely wildlife…

They were the first to go.
In a heartbeat, they left
without even a single audio.
It was a massive theft.

Stupid vacuum of space.
It seemed that it had no decency,
as no sound gave chase.
At least, not at my ear frequency.

It was almost as if the loss wasn’t worthy
enough to make a sound.
Without a single courtesy,
just to make the significance drown.

They’re… all gone. All but me.
I realized numbly that I outlived them all.
For once, without a single scrutiny,
I was shattering my facade of metal.

I was the only one who lived to tell the story.
The only one left who was an Earthling.
The only one who knew all the glory
of living on our planet, of being.

And I was going to die, too.
My oxygen tank was almost done,
and the tentacles were reaching me, true.
But that didn’t shield me from the suns.

The luminescent stars in the ethereal sky,
freckling the darkness of the universe.
I blissfully looked around one last time,
seeing it as a blessing rather than a curse.

Then, I closed my eyes, finally at peace,
thinking of those who loved me.
Then, I felt a coldness cease
as the flames finally enveloped me.