Rendez-vous with a Prince

Once, on a piece of stone
somewhere in outer space
a prince felt quite alone
and jumped to quit the race.

He landed in the sand
beside Exupéry
and told about his land
and of his tragedy.

His home was very small,
and all that it could keep
so that it didn't fall
would be an only sheep.

- o -

Last night, I had a dream
about this little prince,
and almost, it would seem,
now just a few years hence

he might be back again
and visit Earth once more.
So, now I use my brain
to calculate the score,

try find the very place
where he would choose to land
and, jumping in from space,
be landing in the sand.

I want to go and find
this little astronaut
and try to pry his mind,
find out what he has thought

since last he was on Earth
and what he may have seen;
whenever was his birth,
which places he has been,

since he began to fare
from where he must have come,
and how it is up there
- like him there are just some!

While he is on the run
in all the universe,
I must go round the sun
and write this silly verse!

- o -

Author Notes
I wrote "Rendez-vous with a Prince" in March 1998
as a reaction to a news wire from which I quote:

"ASTEROID ALERT: Experts say a large
one could hit Earth.
It's not time to panic, but earthlings need to
keep an eye on a 1.6-kilometer-wide asteroid
that will zip very close to the planet in 30 years.
Tentative calculations are that the asteroid will
pass within 42,000 kilometers of the Earth's center
on or about 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2028."