Otterbade

Pink light bleeds across the sky, like the pooling flow from the wounded soldiers of the Rose Ferret Clan on the battlefield of En-Shak Moon. Stamper tries to push that image out of his mind.

It disturbs the peace of this moment.

This moment where the space otter is, for once, happy.

This moment, where he and the only otter he loves are together.

This last moment.

The last, because Stamper has a mission.

His shuttle’s engines are already whining like shrill kittens.

He knows it’s important. And he has to go.

Saving the galaxy, finding some missing shiny thing, rescuing a lost robot.

The usual.

So he will slip quietly into the turbolift and whisk away.

She is still asleep, of course.

Stamper promises he will call her later.

He doesn’t know that later never comes, that her moon will explode in two hours, that everything will change.

Right now, all Stamper knows, is this last happy moment, as the sun bleeds across the lightening sky.

I bet you’ve never read a free verse space otter aubade before. You might still not have; this is my first attempt at it. It’s an interesting and specific poetry form, to say the least.