Space Voyage Poem by Whit Leyenberger

Falling asleep in Indiana
Burning up the interstate in my dad’s little red rocketship
The pavement’s shimmer melding with the blaze of stars above
as the horizon blurs into a mist of darkness and yesterday.
My eyelids heavy I watch my father
cold and determined-a man on a mission certainly-
watch the road as exit 36 becomes a memory
and mile marker 245 a dream. Bringing us home safe,
touchdown in the morning, back to Earth and the car seat
and the smell of exhaust. But tonight, just for now,
we are space travelers, pioneers with no one but each other
Blasting through this galaxy in my dad’s little red rocketship.