My quarters were very cramped, a tiny compartment.
The huge doors, called petals, from all directions closed over me.
I heard and felt them snapping shut.
There was no way I could move; I was frozen in my cell.
It seemed like an eternity, there in the darkness.
A roar echoed around me; there was jerking, quivering!
I was moving faster and faster!
Then all was quiet—for such a very long time!
Long months passed, countless days!
A powerful explosion awakened me, followed by violent vibrations,
A feeling of falling, excessive heat,
Minutes passed, a loud bang, a strong pulling force!
An ear-splitting hissing noise! What was happening to me?
We hit something hard and began bouncing,
So very high we lurched, twisting and turning, flipping and whipping,
We bounced again and again, over and over!
Finally at rest, all was quiet.
The walls of my cocoon slowly began to open,
I felt the cold; I was in heavy darkness.
Gradually first light; I saw a pink sky.
All around my opened shell
Were huge billowing, slowly shrinking balloons.
Morning had come!
I felt a tingling in my circuits!
My wheels wanted to move; I felt alive at last!
Slowly I began to roll from my enclosure.
The landscape was strange, reddish, rock strewn, incredible!
My time for adventure had come!
I could talk with “Lander,” my cell box,
I was “Sojourner,” with work to do!
My time to serve was upon me.
To explore a new unknown alien world!
Who wants to know what I am about to learn?
Who is my parent, my master?
Why do I seem to know exactly what to do?
Who am I? Where am I?
The questions pour from my circuits.
What will the future bring?
When my batteries die, will I be remembered?
(July 1995)