Space Station 2045
November 2045
Dear Lily and Tom,
It’s been hot today!
A hundred degrees, maybe more, I say.
The sun has been shining for three hundred hours!
No clouds, no wind, no drizzly showers.
But don’t get too jealous because, very soon,
we’ll be freezing and shivering, here on the moon.
In absolute darkness it’s silent, cold, bleak
and minus one seventy, for two whole weeks!
My work for this trip, to drill down and reach ice,
is going quite well, and the water tastes nice.
Though mostly we use it for food that we grow.
If we mix it with wee, plants grow better, you know!
This morning I’m fixing the large greenhouse dome
and it’s still a few months till I rocket back home,
so why don’t you come and visit me here?
Be good! Love you loads! I’ll see you next year!
Mum xxx
Dear Lily and Tom,
It’s been hot today!
A hundred degrees, maybe more, I say.
The sun has been shining for three hundred hours!
No clouds, no wind, no drizzly showers.
But don’t get too jealous because, very soon,
we’ll be freezing and shivering, here on the moon.
In absolute darkness it’s silent, cold, bleak
and minus one seventy, for two whole weeks!
My work for this trip, to drill down and reach ice,
is going quite well, and the water tastes nice.
Though mostly we use it for food that we grow.
If we mix it with wee, plants grow better, you know!
This morning I’m fixing the large greenhouse dome
and it’s still a few months till I rocket back home,
so why don’t you come and visit me here?
Be good! Love you loads! I’ll see you next year!
Mum xxx
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Picture is copyright (©) Mary Rouncefield 2025
This poem is copyright (©) Jacqueline Shirtliff 2026
About the Writer
Jacqueline Shirtliff
Jacqueline is a poet and primary school teacher on the Isle of Man. One of her favourite things is helping children to love poetry and reading and encouraging them to be writers themselves. She lives in a rose-covered cottage near the sea and enjoys gardening, crochet, and playing the tuba and harp, but not all at the same time! You can read some of her other poems in The Caterpillar, Tyger Tyger, Northern Gravy, The Toy, and Little Thoughts Press.
