SOLACE, Tiffany Lin

When have we ever been alone on Earth? Lonely, but not alone, not with stars and Moon, our nearby Earthchild, sparkling and luminous. The Romans called their (our) planets stella errans, wanderer stars, always journeying, always seen. How lucky we are, to look into the sky we have colored and see gifted histories, names and warriors and queens, the chosen tokens of gods—we populate space with people like landmarks to a treasure, guiding our way away.

When will we ever be alone on Earth? Not now, but maybe far into (our?) future—galaxies are expanding away from us faster than light, far enough that we see no brightness, hear no sounds, radio silence in (our?) space, and in billions of years if we are still here, our wanderers will be gone, our landmarks eroded, their names belonding to no one, and we will look out at (our?) night sky to see all dark, no stars.

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