Poetry Friday: Creative Edition

Fuse #8 posts her mom's poetry, so I'm posting my husband's song from the Heinlein Centennial. You can also hear him singing it here.

(After he performed, a woman handed him a flyer for a group marriage organization. Hey, I can't blame her for trying but sorry, not gonna happen. Don't confuse the art with the artist.)


"Adam Selene's by-line appeared first in dignified pages of
Moonglow over a somber poem titled: "Home." Was dying
thoughts of old transportee, his discovery as he is about
to leave that Luna is his beloved home. Language was
simple, rhyme scheme unforced, only thing faintly subversive
was conclusion on part of dying man that even many wardens
he has endured was not too high a price."
- R.A.H, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, p. 120


HOME
Music and lyrics by Evan Hunt


my name is John Porter
and I was transported
way back in the year '29
I took a long trip
and I walked off that ship
to the cot that I'd bought with my crime

and they said, keep your nose clean and hair combed
you only reap what you have sown
so be a good cobber
do everything proper
and maybe someday you'll go home

well, I sure wasn't ready
for prison work's heavy
no matter how little you weigh
working up topside
maintaining the 'locks, I'd
be risking my breath every day

but every time I stepped out of that dome
how the Earth overhead shone
I'd reach out to touch her
and loved her so much, for
I knew that someday I'd go home

I finished my sentence
filled with repentance
(and beer) and they said I was free
so I took the tube
to where nobody knew me
and looked for a job in L.C.

next thing I knew I was drilling through stone
making my way on my own
each day with the laser
I went a bit crazier
but someday, I knew I'd go home

my partner and I did some
tunneling, lighted 'em
up, and we started a farm
we met a nice woman
asked her to come in
and love us, and keep us both warm

and it wasn't long 'fore she gave us a son
then a daughter, and so on, and on
and I told the kids stories
about all the glories
of Earth, our beloved fair home

isn't it funny
how something can be
right in front of
your face, but unseen?
life passes you by
and you don't even see
'cause you're trying
to follow a dream...

well, I couldn't quite make it
to save up a stake, it's just
pushing uphill all the way
sell ten tons of rice
at authority prices
and you wind up with more debt to pay

and all the years, how swiftly they've flown
my children and grandchildren grown
but still, on I've striven
and never quite given
up saving for my ticket home

now it's been many years
and I've shed a few tears
but I've also had joy in my heart
and today I see clearly
I've loved my life dearly
and got what I sought from the start

and not even all of the work that I've done
nor all of the troubles I've known
nor all of the burdens
not even the wardens
were too high a price for my home

yes, now I know that I'm where I belong
as I say my farewells in my song
I look to the past
and I know at the last
that Luna is truly my home
I reach out to touch her
and love her so much... for
I know that I've finally come home
sweet Luna, I've finally come home

- July 4, 2007