Sun
Home star, you’re never too far
Lighting up our lives wherever we are
On moon or mars, near or far
Home star, you’re never too far
Keeping us all from drifting apart
In the deep dark galactic bar
Igniting the skies each day
In the Orion spur of the Milky Way
Streaming light across the dark space
Primeval god, Universe’s glowing face.
Mercury
Moon’s twin with much cratered face
Locked with the Sun in tidal embrace
Radiating spiders, strange terrain
Gigantic rays, a cosmic melon
Jumping planet, winged messenger
Here a day lasts longer than a year
Hermes, Buddh, Nabu, the hour Star,
A roving eccentric straying near and far
Flirting with Venus in sweet twilight
Bringing to the lovers pure delight.
Venus
The evening star blazing bright
Love goddess pouring pure delight
Turning clockwise bending rules
The rebel princess dyed in wool
The sun rises in west, sets in east
Relishing celestial beauty feast
Dancing with earth in twists and turns
Making pentagrams, stunning patterns
Secrets hidden beneath opaque clouds
Air crushing, volcanoes thundering loud
Morning star of the starry night
Ushering a new dawn filled with light.
Moon
Celestial diamond, primeval timepiece
Cosmic lamppost, night’s soft kiss
Seducing oceans, occulting sun
Silver goddess lighting up the heaven
Mankind’s great leap, ephemeral solace
A pit-stop to explore the deep space
Eternal companion, ever morphing face
Sensual sentinel in tidal embrace
Watching in silence Earth rise and fall
Moon, moon, moon, we chant it all.
Earth
Our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl
The most beautiful planet in the universe
All the continents and all the oceans
United we stand as flora and fauna
United we stand as species of one earth
Diverse cultures, beliefs and ways
We are humans, Earth is our home.
All the people and all the nations
All for one, one for all
United we unfurl the blue marble flag.
Mars
Earth’s twin in the Milky Way
Similar seasons, length of the day
Channels, valleys, dikes and dunes
Dry ice, dust devils, two moons
Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons
Deepest canyons, highest mountains
Hellas planitia, Borealis basin
Flattest plains as never seen
Mangal, Nergal, fire star,
Ares, Horus, god of war
Ma’adim, Mamers, Marte, Marwth,
A solace for the choking Earth
Put an end to all the petty wars
Get in spaceships, sail to Mars.
Jupiter
Celestial break dancer, delighting souls
Bulging in the middle, flattened at poles
Wish fulfiller, harbinger of good omen
Remover of sorrows, guardian of Heaven
Zeus, Brihaspati – the Guru of Gods
Protecting planets, braving all odds
Colourful clouds swirling like curd
Giant storms wider than the Erde
Ganymede, Calisto, Europa – multiple moons
Water-worlds where possibly alien life croons.
Saturn
Celestial gymnast dancing with rings
Clipping with a sickle misfortune’s wings
Whirling like a dervish in deep trance
A beacon of justice, fertility and romance
Deceptively peaceful, a churning cauldron
With chaotic rings and polar hexagon
A hundred moons, a thousand moonlets
A world of its own, some exuding water jets
Zazel, Cronus, Phainon, Shani
The final resting place of the Cassini.
Uranus
The cosmic magician wearing cyan
making solid diamond crystals rain
Diamond-bergs floating in diamond ocean
the coldest planet in retrograde motion
Celestial acrobat with unusual axial tilt,
the keeper of the dead in electric blue kilt
Longish years shortish days
giant ice ball rotating sideways
Watcher of the skies, ruler of heaven
Jupiter’s ancestor, father of Saturn
Lord of Aquarius adorned with rings
holding forth with feats and swings.
Neptune
Lord of the Kuiper belt, god of ocean
Celestial bouncer in slow motion
Cosmic doorkeeper, the dwarf hunter
Destabilising orbits of wayward drifters
Pushing them out into interstellar space
Or pulling them into the sun’s embrace
Winds breaking the supersonic barrier
The windiest place in the heliosphere
In deep darkness shining blue and bright
Bathing under the sun’s last feeble light
A cocktail of Helium, Hydrogen and Methane,
The ice giant, at times sacred, at times profane.