Waiting For The Martians - 1954

A starry summer night in East Tennessee,
Bugs racheting and cricketing and zoom-biting, too......
Smells of dewey grass and mosquito repellant and canvas pup tent,
Pillows and blankets damp and chill with dew already,
Mom and Dad encouraging us to get to sleep.......
My older brother's pup tent,
Pride and joy of his Cub Scoutery,
And a Big Thrill for little sis.

Lying in my blankets looking up at the brilliant sparkling stars,
The stars whose forms our Dad had named to us -
Casseopaeia, Ursa Major, the Pleiades, Ursa Minor - there's Mars!
There's MARS -
And then my brother is spinning a tale of Martians coming to visit Earth
This very night.
He never gets to finish his story -
I can't bear the thought of Martians - right here in Tennessee?
Right here in Tennessee.
I call my sleepy Dad to rescue me,
And that's the end of the pup tent adventure forever.

Over my childhood and teen years I camp out many times -
But never again with my older brother in his pup tent.
Over all the years since then - into my grandmotherhood -
I've sometimes seen actual space ships.
I haven't minded them at all - I find them enchanting -
But that's probably because I'm not shivering in chilly damp blankets
Under the spell of my big brother's tales
In the pup tent.