Ticket To Mars by Jo Dearden

I’m the leader of the space race. 
I’m a primate in his prime.
I’m taking one small step for me,
one giant leap for chimpkind.

Illustration © 2016 Jonny Duddle

I’ve boldy gone bananas
to the planets and the stars.
They say I’ll be remembered as
‘the first space ape on Mars’.

The mission’s going well I'm told.
There isn’t much to do.
​Just monitor the instruments 
while taking in the view.

The Earth’s a marble I could flick 
with finger and with thumb            
to ricochet off Mercury 
and smash into the sun.

And Mars itself, a sly red eye, 
becomes a newfound friend.            
“I’ll see you soon,” it seems to say, 
“You’re near your journey’s end.”

There’s just one thing I need to know 
before I can relax.    
It's what to do, in order to
start making Earth-bound tracks.

The green switch is accelerate. 
The red switch is the brakes.        
That blue one there is ‘auto-chimp’ 
(in case I make mistakes).

The purple switch shoots laserbeams 
if aliens attack.                
But no-one’s said which switch I press 
to send me safely back…    

Poem ©2016 Jo Dearden
Image ©2016 Jonny Duddle

Illustration © 2016 Jonny Duddle