James Thomas Hazard
No doubt about it, the scientist said,
For years we’ve searched the skies for a message
From a star that is home to life like ours.
We’re either alone or everyone’s dead,
Buried by their own technical wreckage
But I have something much different in mind:
Planets of forests, dark green as a gem,
Where the smoke of fires drift through the trees
And people share all the food they can find,
Gazing at stars that will never see them