How would you spend your last day on Earth? Astronaut Don Pettit ponders launch preparations in his latest poem from the space station. http://bit.ly/KM8kir
Last Day on Earth
The day before launch
maybe gone for a year
perhaps half right
Your last day on Earth
what would you do?
Robbing the piggybank of time
to spend it on what ever you desire
We live in quarantine
a flower by any other name
that smells like white collar prison
You know your crew well
they become your second family
I have said my good byes
the hugs are done
a walk on the beach
and time for a good cry
You eat anything you want
No one speaks of this as a last supper
but it is
You time your bathroom habits
do I drink my morning coffee?
Like a dike holding back the sea
will my diaper survive
oh the marvels of rocket science
A solitary walk with nature
alligators
cranes
turtles
no see-ums
decorating my ankles with nasty red bumps
a parting kiss from Mother Earth
We study like students
cramming for an exam
this time a mistake costs more than ten points
Focus on your duties
it won't fail because of me
Like Samson's hair
my family
the root to all my strength
I will return
Oh how does one spend your last day on Earth
What would you do?

Don's blog also appears at airspacemag.com