The Angry Glare of Io by S. E. Johnson

The Angry Glare of Io

Floating like a moat in God's eye,
away upon the seas of space,
I thought of you again today,
About the tried and weary human race.

The clever men who cast me on this sea,
A black and starry sea and I alone,
Beneath the roiling glare of Io,
The earth is now a far off forgotten stone.

Thus Jupiter and all her children call,
I am the son among these moons,
My thoughts of those are not unkind,
More or less a primal race with runes.

They as good as dead and I as good as gone!
The tunes of space are all I seem to hear,
Echoes launched from all their yesterdays,
I know full well what mortals fear!

An angry glare of Io looms above my head,
her fires will claim my craft as I decay,
Embraced by her flaming cauldrens soon,
None to hear my ramblings this final day!

I sing the song of earth and fire and bone,
She answers me with roaring in my ears,
So far away in madness I am dying,
Where no man shall ever see my tears.

The small orbiter spirals down into Io,
A forsaken soul in the solitude of space,
Unseen by all but God he fades into the fire,
Serenity and calmness if we could see his face.