Great River Of His Tribe

Great River Of His Tribe
© Surazeus
2026 08 24

Boots crunch on mucky gravel of her heart 
as Minnie lurks along the barbed-wire fence, 
crawls low under loose wire in cold moonlight, 
nauseous at pungent scent of oiled mushrooms, 
then scoots across open field past searchlights 
to huddle near the secret facility. 

Because our globe, as third rock from the sun, 
measured at one astronomical unit 
in the formula called Titus-Bode Law 
that predicts sequential spacing of planets, 
orbits just close enough to nurture life, 
billions of planets also teem with life. 

Slowly opening the metal door left unlocked, 
Minnie proceeds with caution in the dark, 
but stops at sight of enormous glass sphere 
that shimmers green and orange with pulsing lights, 
astonished with delight to see at last 
starship that came from some far distant world. 

Start with number zero, followed by three, 
then double each subsequent number, six, 
twelve, twenty-four, forty-eight, ninety-six, 
then add four to each number in the sequence, 
then divide each result by ten, which notes 
position of each planet from the sun. 

Strange eerie yellow glow lights up the room 
so Minnie stares astonished at the sight 
of human bodies in suits and white coats 
scattered from terrible carnage of death, 
but gasps when she sees the alien creature 
that seems half-cat, half-lizard with swan wings. 

Cradling wounded Seraph in tender arms, 
Minnie helps him drink water from the bottle, 
then gazes in his gold serpentine eyes 
and dreams whole progress of his earnest life, 
gliding along rivers, learning to sing, 
and exploring worlds as ship archivist. 

Bearing him inside his crystal starship, 
she follows instructions he telepaths 
to pilot sphere of pulsing glass in space, 
surfing through undulating beams of light 
to his home planet, he names Ranika, 
where his family welcomes him safely home. 

Holding his waist tight with laughter of awe, 
Minnie gasps when he soars into the sky 
and glides along great river of his tribe, 
named Saramatha for his great-grandmother, 
who blesses their kiss as her alarm rings, 
so she grumbles, and gets ready for work.