A Floral Hypocrite

Chengyu Liu

A Floral Hypocrite

 

A space dandelion

stands her delicate body

upon the yellow mine of sulfur

under the quiet blue sky.

 

A sympathetic traveler

moves her on a ball of soil

to a new home

in a green savannah.

 

She senses the rich earth

and bears seeds

with hard black shells.

At the end of the cycle

 

she withers, releases her children

spreading to every corner

whispering in people’s ears:

 

Why should they hurt each other.

How can they make a new weapon?

E = mc². Strife befalls

a race to be the alpha.

 

A godless celebration,

dazzling lights, white

mushrooms. Leaving behind

scorched scars

 

and loneliness,

the rest of the seeds

propelled by the blasts

ascend across the mesosphere

navigate through the rocky forests

 

of asteroids, towards the blue sphere

behind the curtain of stars,

land and burgeon on a pile

of black powder.

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Chengyu Liu came from China in 2009 and is currently living in San Diego. He loves poetry and doing research on biomolecules. You can read his other work in Strange Horizons, Aphelion, Grievous Angel and Silver Blade.

Editor’s Notes:  This dandelion architecture is both alien and astronomical.