Think of the moon,
Think of the stars,
Think of how some microscopic earthlings did depart.

And how they became your guiding light.
A celestial body burning bright.
They became me, and we became I,
And merging together our bodies did fly
Into the world of constellations and burning carbon.

I grew for a year,
And then for a day.
Until humans on Earth looked up and did say:
“My God, what is that?!”
“Is that a new planet?”
“Quick come look at this, Janet!”
As round as their eyes,
I did float in the sky,
A tardigrade moon,
Unable to die.

Born in the depths of
The dirt and the mud.
The underworld was home to me and the buds,
And the roots and shoots of plants yet to reach the air.

And now the underworld had been shot
Into space.
The Earth and the Sky became the same place.
Earth Goddess, Moon Goddess,
We all were the same.
Tardigrades were once again back to reign.

From our ancient beginnings
To our newfound perspective,
Escaping extinction was ever respected.
That’s why the humans shot us up in the first place,
On the back of a rocket far into space.

A message to outlive nuclear waste,
Was the intention stated in haste,
By humans scrabbling to write their own story.
Huffing and puffing
And sighing and exclaiming
They argued how to best show their glory.

Into their time capsule they did decide,
The intellect of humanity must reside.
Towers upon towers
Of microscopic information,
Was conveyed by miniature words,
The size of bacteria,
Next to which we were stationed.
A family of tardigrades,
Lay upon secrets of magic,
Religions and language.
Upon facts and figures,
Books and songs.
But don’t get me wrong,
This was not as good as it seems.

The humans did forget
That they cannot speak for all.
That telling a narrative as truth,
Once and for all,
Calls into question that one has to speak,
Louder than others.
Some voices are weak.

But up shot the archive,
Regardless of this,
Leaving the ether
Until with a hiss,
And a start and a splutter,
The rocket did miss
Its turning.

And we landed on the moon.

The moon had grown lonely,
Up there on her own.
The realm of myth and legend,
Had cast her alone.
The last visitors that set foot on her surface,
Speared her with flags,
And made her open to purchase.
So, wary of us,
She spoke with caution.
Asking if we were there to portion
Her up, and carry her to Earth.

Upon seeing that there was no such plan,
She gave us her trust,
And told us we can
Grow as we wish,
Exceed our Earthly limits.
Become as big as fish,
As trees,
As whales,
As stars,
As her.

And I did.

The fate of Earth,
We of course all know.
With my unearthly powers,
I was able to show
The secret to defying death.
But sadly some still took their last breath.

As we look back on humans,
With somewhat mixed feelings.
Nostalgia, sorrow, relief, and grieving.
I tell this tale for all of you beings,
That I encouraged to flourish,
To avoid the extinction.

I let humans perish
To save you all.
We must learn from their past,
And not fall
For the same mistakes.

The Rehydrated Neo-Goddess