Jezero

There are moments when the flashlight,

cast down from an expanding universe,

shies away for a short while, and suddenly

instead of being the center of all being

you are a bright bulb on the ceiling,

illuminating a room that is not yours.

A room in which a family of four sits

to watch the latest 9pm documentary

about Perseverance and its journey

to the delta in the Jezero crater,

the final stop after desolate observation

over ancient bumps and trace clay.

And you wonder if this family knows

that Jezero is a Slavic word for “lake”,

and that what we’re all hoping for

Is a spotlight that shines onto the abyss

And finds that it once teemed with

the unmistakable joy of being.