The day before launch

    maybe gone for a year

        perhaps half right

Your last day on Earth

    what would you do?

Robbing the piggybank of time

    to spend it on what ever you desire

We live in quarantine

    a flower by any other name

        that smells like white collar prison 

You know your crew well

    they become your second family

I have said my good byes

    the hugs are done

        a walk on the beach

            and time for a good cry

You eat anything you want

    No one speaks of this as a last supper

        but it is

You time your bathroom habits

    do I drink my morning coffee?

Like a dike holding back the sea

    will my diaper survive

        oh the marvels of rocket science 

A solitary walk with nature

    alligators

        cranes

            turtles

                no see-ums

decorating my ankles with nasty red bumps

    a parting kiss from Mother Earth

We study like students

    cramming for an exam

        this time a mistake costs more than ten points 

Focus on your duties

    it won't fail because of me

Like Samson's hair

    my family

        the root to all my strength

            I will return

Oh how does one spend your last day on Earth

    What would you do?

Don's blog also appears at airspacemag.com.