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        Day 104b.

Well, here we are, my friend, and welcome to Volume Two.
Not the book I promised, alas, but this will have to do.
I hope the climb was not too taxing, hope it’s clement weather –
It’s best of all at suns-set, when all four go down together.
If you’ll excuse an in-joke, then this very situation
Is a little like that final message God left his creation.

I’m afraid I’ve got some very bad news,
But maybe you’ve guessed – seen through my ruse:
We’re dying, you and I.  Maybe you guessed.
Here ends our bloody pointless noble quest.
Those knobbly leaves that saved us – well, they saved us for a while –
It seems they hold a toxin that has gathered in our bile.
Look, I know, I could have told you once I knew,

Could have written on the first page “Just give up, this isn’t true,
Just don’t go on, it’s all con.”  But then, what would you do ?
So I’ve lied to you instead.
A sin of omission, I guess, but you still end dead.
But if I had, you’d have starved all the quicker –
This way, I gave you a hope, a flicker,
One which I shared at the time.
Now I know better, and fully accept my crime
To not let on that we are cursed –
Of all the choices, this one seems least worst.

Either way, we’re never going home.
But hey, how many can get to roam
Across this glorious galaxy,
Across such worlds and moons as we ?
And so much life !  Such gorgeous beings –
It has been fun, all our sight-seeings.
For us, the galaxy displays her best –
And if we’re cursed, then surely too we’re blessed !

So, the journal once more takes its place
To aid the next poor refugee in space,
So terrified and all alone,
A long long way from home.
And they shall read this letter, too –
So after all my words, please add a few words of your own.
Perhaps there are some here already, under mine,
From voyagers before your time, who spared a thought to share a line
In many voices: calm, betrayed, or manic.
To all of you now facing death, I urge you with my final breath:

Don’t panic…

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        104.

Are you still with me, friend ?
Are you still on the course of my footprints ?
Following my lead and signs and hints,
And wond’ring where will all this end ?

Well, as I’m sure you’re well aware,
We’ve reached the last page of the book.
I’m quite surprised how long it took,
But here we are, if you still care.

I really thought we’d be home by now,
But hey, it’s a long long way, our road,
And I guess our weary feet have slowed,
But the views were pretty anyhow.

Time for a breather, I think –
I found a bar not far from here,
To rest our boots and stow our gear
And maybe try the local drink.

I wish we could leave it there –
A slow fade as we mop our brows,
And close the book to lightly drowse
In the heart of who-knows-where…

But when you wake, you’ll lack this tome –
Alien hands are paid to impound it,
To send it back to where you found it –
It’s time for you both to go back home.

And as for me, I’m not yet done –
I’ve still got trekking left in me,
If I’m to make it back for tea –
So come along and share the fun.

Let’s take a stroll, a mile or so,
On up the valley, round the bend –
It’s time. And after all, my friend,
Just where else have we got to go…?

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        Day 89.

Do you think they miss us yet ?
Back home, I mean…
Do you think they’ve started yet to suss ?
It’s been a while.
Let’s see…it’s been…
Well, long enough to make a fuss.

And we never said we were going –
Just routine,
They’re unconcerned.
We’ve always been there – till we weren’t –
Perhaps we’re waiting for the bus…

Do you think they miss us yet ?
Have they a hunch ?
Do you think we’re something they discuss ?
It’s been some while,
A long, long lunch.
Or were we just superfluous ?

We’ll never be able to tell them,
What we’ve seen
Or what we’ve learned –
They had to be there, but they weren’t –
Nobody was, but us.

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        Day 71.

I’m sorry for yesterday.
I’m sad to say, I’m feeling rather Marvin now.
Maybe you are too – but hang in with me,
We’ll pull through, you’ll see –
We’ll make it back somehow.
I met an alien last night
Who cheered me up a bit
We didn’t speak, but what a sight !
They had these scores of legs that wouldn’t fit
And just kept falling off,
Unless they took great care to never cough.
I guess there’s evolution working there,
But God knows what it is.
Perhaps they really had it bad,
Far worse than me, far worse than this.
Perhaps.  I guess that shouldn’t make me glad,
But there you are.
I even smiled, the first time in, oh, I don’t know.
Anyway, on to the next strange star,
On to another Brave New World we go.

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        Day 70.

Another trip to another moon
Of another world of another star
That gets me nowhere nowhen soon,
And leaves me every bit as far.
And after all my pointless striding,
You’ve the chance to stride it too
And just like me, you’ll find no ride
To take you home to Planet Blue.
So what’s the bloody point at all ?
Just what’s the bloody point ?
We tour the stars, but every call
Is just another same-old joint,
With just the same damn knobbly leaves,
And just the same damn hopeless chase,
And petty clerks, and scummy thieves,
And endless miles of endless space.

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