The Comet
Okay, this is really something old. I wrote this poem a long time ago, and it appeared in this blog not long after I started it.
Way back in 1986, when Halley's Comet shot past the Earth, the Straits Times (our national newspaper) organised a poetry writing contest to commemorate the event. The first prize was a telescope (a Baush & Lomb Cassegrain reflector), which I sort of fancied at that time. Hey, the poem that I wrote won that scope, but it is now somewhere in my storeroom gathering fungi.
image from Wikimedia Commons
The Comet
Like clockwork, you returned from an endless celestial journey
Halley
And we, on this fragile planet, itself hurtling,
we wonder, we dread, we marvel
what you really are, a heart of ice, gas and dust?
Ha!
Did tyranosaurus rex snarled at you on a visit to primeval Earth?
Or were you making your pilgrimage since the Sun's birth?
Did you bring about Hastings?
Did you fell the Qing?
And we, with our computers, our lasers, still call you a stranger,
Wanderer.
Like a puzzle, you fascinate us, the ancient and the young.
You'll still do, in Twenty-sixty-one.
18.04.1986
* * * * * *
Maybe twice in a lifetime.
Note : One of the rules of that contest was that the poem must be less than 100 words. Not much to wriggle about. But it suits me fine. :)
Shared on Poetry Pantry #152 at Poets United
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2013
Way back in 1986, when Halley's Comet shot past the Earth, the Straits Times (our national newspaper) organised a poetry writing contest to commemorate the event. The first prize was a telescope (a Baush & Lomb Cassegrain reflector), which I sort of fancied at that time. Hey, the poem that I wrote won that scope, but it is now somewhere in my storeroom gathering fungi.
image from Wikimedia Commons
The Comet
Like clockwork, you returned from an endless celestial journey
Halley
And we, on this fragile planet, itself hurtling,
we wonder, we dread, we marvel
what you really are, a heart of ice, gas and dust?
Ha!
Did tyranosaurus rex snarled at you on a visit to primeval Earth?
Or were you making your pilgrimage since the Sun's birth?
Did you bring about Hastings?
Did you fell the Qing?
And we, with our computers, our lasers, still call you a stranger,
Wanderer.
Like a puzzle, you fascinate us, the ancient and the young.
You'll still do, in Twenty-sixty-one.
18.04.1986
* * * * * *
Maybe twice in a lifetime.
Note : One of the rules of that contest was that the poem must be less than 100 words. Not much to wriggle about. But it suits me fine. :)
Shared on Poetry Pantry #152 at Poets United
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2013
Labels: Earth, Poetry, poetry competition, Singapore
posted by dsnake1 at 12:22 AM
8 Comments:
Yes, I think it will be a mystery for a long time to come. Nice one.
What a wonderful honor that this poem won the prize. Everyone IS fascinated with Halley's Comet, for sure. Hmmm, I won't be around to see its reappearance in 2061, I'm afraid.
Fascinating!
did t rex snarl at you...ha...yes how long has it been coming around and how many have marveled at it...cool you won too...
Anthony,
Yes, it is! :)
Mary,
I too won't be around to see its reappearance. :(
thank you!
Lisa,
thank you!
Brian,
thank you! perhaps the motivation of the telescope was good enough. :)
...by 2061 i will be 70... and the reappearance will make a great treat...smiles...
Nice to read and, ..know a Winner :-)
Kelvin,
by 2061, i will be... no way!
thanks for visiting! :)
ZQ,
i got lucky. :D
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