Listen, Dante Poem by Jan Sand

Awkward structures sail
On rigid rails of velocity and gravity
Amongst the planets of the Sun.
Metal ears and crystal eyes
Pay stiff attention
To the visibles and invisibles
Which stream through space.
Whispers call out
To those indoctrinated
In their arcane tongue.
Secrets tell of terribles
Of our family of worlds.
Jupiter and Saturn
Would embrace you heavily
To death,
While stuffing noxious gas
Into your lungs.
Venus and Mercury
Would, in a snap,
Bake you to a crisp.
Our moon, of two minds,
Would fry you in its day
And freeze you at night.
Gentle Mars
Might allot a moment out of misery
Before it snuffs you out.
Aside from Io,
Where volcanic fury
Would tear you to shreds,
And Europa, where you might enjoy
The clash of surface ice
Over freezing underwater turbulence,
All other planetary grounds
Would suck away your heat of life
And choke you in a vacuum.
The skies are resplendent
In varieties of hell.
Earth is heaven.