Pioneer Species
We’ll still grow trees on Mars,
Under the domes,
And rooted in thin soil –
We’ll take nuts to the stars
And distant homes,
To shade our fervent toil.
Beside potato fields,
And stands of wheat,
They’ll ease the barren crag –
Not for their timber yields
Or fruits to eat,
But just to plant our flag.
It only takes an acorn,
That’s not too much weight
To build a tree.
And ev’ry sapling born
Shall grow up great
In lower gravity.
Yet forests don’t get lush
Till a thousand years
Of Martian peace have been –
I guess we’re in no rush
To clothe our spheres,
And turn the red to green.
Which trees, though, all depends –
Can oak withstand,
Or maybe pine, or beech ?,
To scatter to the ends
Of ev’ry land
Our giant leaps shall reach.
And thus, we’ll leave a trace
From overseas
That shows we once came by.
We’ll still grow trees in space,
Because the trees
Have reached-up to the sky.
Rhyming Couplets 