ODE TO COMET HALE-BOPP

by Carmelita Miranda

From a galaxy near and dear to us

an ice ball came this way

Saying “Goodbye, I’ll be coming home again soon

to it’ Ort Cloud friends, it would say

Pulled by the sun by an invisible thread

the ice ball feels the tug

It’ only a few thousand years and back

and off it goes with a shrug

Two men espied it from little planet, Earth

and named it after them

A whizzing through space at a rapid pace

was Comet Hale-Bopp to be the creme de la creme?

Past Jupiter, some asteroids, Mars, Earth,

Venus, and Mercury too, it passed on by

The Sun to be a slingshot back into outer space

a meltin’ and a rotatin’ s it does on the fly

But little earthlings create stories of wonder

and of fantasy so easy

Of little green men in shadow at best

spaceships and imaginations in a tizzy

But a comet is a comet made of ice

each a little different in shape and size

This one with hoods and brightness

and peered at by many with eager eyes

Although the debate rages on about

being a Great Comet of 1997

The observations made by individuals

are unique and agree it belongs in the heavens

For the world has again shared

this visiting apparition

And stories to be told through generations

and of their participation

Viewed by the earthlings as it goes

To the Sun and over the top

It bids a fond farewell with it’ arching dust tail

So long and see you again to Comet Hale-Bopp

Carmelita Miranda - April 7 1997

Copyright©1997 Carmelita Miranda