So far, I’ve mostly written poems about Michael Whelan’s artwork that I was familiar with. It’s been mostly artwork that I knew either from his posts, or from his book covers.
This time, I decided to pick an artwork at random — just because it appealed to me 🙂 And what I ended up picking was “Brightness Reef”.
I’ve not read David Brin. Yes, I know, I’m missing out 🙂 I think I had a bunch of David Brin books in my long-left-behind collection of books. I had bought the books because I’d heard good things about David Brin, but I don’t think “Brightness Reef” was in that collection. Or, if I did, it didn’t have the Michael Whelan cover because if it had, I would have remembered it.
The image captured me instantly. It makes me yearn to explore, to find a place with the kind of beauty that Michael captures here. It feels like a call to adventure, to me.
I originally called the poem “Alien Shores” and it was going to be about the beauty and allure of far off places and strange shores. But as often happens to me, the poem had other ideas 🙂 It became about forgotten races and footsteps disappearing in the sands of time. So I called it “Footsteps”.
I’m curious as to whether the themes I touch upon in the poem are at all similar to what happens in the book? I guess I’ll have to read “Brightness Reef” to find out …
Footsteps
by Fahim FarookOn alien shores with golden skies,
She stares into the future with pensive eyes,
While the relics of a past long forgot,
Are gazed on in wonder by a tiny tot.Cities with spires reaching for the skies,
Beheld in wonder by long gone eyes,
Now ancient relics that make you wonder,
What you’d find if ventured yonder.Time comes for us all,
Proud cities crumble and fall,
Ancient races fall to dust,
Machines tumble, eaten by rust.All that remains when races fall,
Is forgotten footsteps of those who stood tall,
Every race that heeded civilization’s call,
Must one day, surely fall.
