Juan Felipe Herrera

SunRiders
September 24, 2022 Herrera Juan Felipe

SunRiders

 

“Go, goooo
Lucy!”
 
everyone back home cheered
 
miles millions we circled
 
Trojans, Jupiter’s eye,  El Sol
 
2,000, 000 years                                                                   sun riders
 
made of hope —                                                       love?
 
Earth was                                                       divided
 
there was hate                                there was sickness
 
Arctic sliding                                               we gathered we flourished
 
kindness healed us
 
Lucy carried us
 
tumbling through planetesimal trails                                             love saved us
 
who will we   be?
 
compassion
 
science
 
humanity —
 
Light

 
 
 

jinetesSolares

 

“¡Vaaamos,
Lucy!”
 
todo mundo gritaba desde casa
 
La tierra estaba                                          dividida
 
existía el odio                       había enfermedades
 
 
el deshielo del Ártico                                 nos reunimos y florecimos
 
el corazón de todos2 nos curó
 
Lucy nos condujo                                          dando
 
volteretas robóticas por senderos planetesimales                   el amor nos salvó

 
millas millones rodeamos
asteroides troyanos, el ojo de Júpiter,  El Sol
 
2,000,000 años
Jinetes del Sol
 
hechos de esperanza—                                        ¿quiénes
 
somos       ahora?
 

compasión

 
ciencia                 humanidad —
 
Luz

 

poem for the NASA Lucy Mission to the Sun

 

 

 

 

9-14-21

Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States, Emeritus. Recent book, Everyday We Get More Illegal (City Lights, SF.) Recent Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award – UC Riverside and LA Review of Books. Lives in Fresno, Ca. with his partner, poet, Margarita Robles.