For the Sol of Opportunity

I.

Before Opportunity got her eye put out;

She ruled the Martian valley.

A solar powered rover, her own mission controller,

A red planet loner.

II.

How alone were you in Perseverance Valley?

How alone were you when the storm hit?

How alone were you when the dust-

made their attack on your eyes?

III.

You remind me of Dickinson,

Your own country and your own citizen.

In solitary you created unity,

Summoning beauty so unusually.

IV.

Before Opportunity got her eye put out;

She saw a world we’d never seen.

28 miles: 5,111 sols you traveled,

with your eyes an entire planet unraveled.

V.

Opportunity told us that we might see,

The sky the way she saw the sky.

Sharing her eyes,

Showing us places we cannot see.

VI.

If you told Dickinson today,

That she might have the Sky your way

She’d tell you that her Heart Would split-

I think she’d see more beauty then her heart could permit.

VII.

Before Opportunity got her eye put out;

There was Mars dust,

The light dimmed,

The Light reduced to 0.002%-

VIII.

One last thing for us before your permanent hibernation,

She sent a picture back.

As much of darkness, as we could take –

Between our finite eyes –

IX.

To share with others what you find when alone,

The images and words that were once just your own,

The vulnerability in letting a picture grow,

Letting words glow.

X.

Before opportunity got her eye put out;

William Blake would have agreed that you,

Saw a world in a grain of sand,

And held infinity in the palm of your hand.

XI.

Opportunity, could Mars sustain life?

Maybe not yours you’d say.

The dust blinded opportunity,

Let her sol rest easy on the red planet.

XII.

When your battery was low and it was getting dark,

The only being there to make a mark,

Did you hear NASA sending you a final tune?

We are all looking at the moon.

Opportunity: Front Hazcam: Sol 5104