I stand cut off, this frigid frozen sea
Lies silent at my side, the stars hold sway,
The Earth, four thousand million miles away
Swims bathed in sun, in orbit, floating free.
But here the blackness reigns eternally,
The stars, unblinking sentinels, do slay
All light, no single colour here can stray;
Cold darkness leaves bright day a memory.

    But gazing at the sky, I seek not Earth,
Its feeble light gives out and cannot call
To me, when silvery stars stand all about.
The past lies on that world, it has no worth:
The past refuses augury and all
Horizons forward lie without.  

                                          1976