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Originally published in From The Asylum (2006) I decided to release it on the web for free a few years ago in celebration of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. --S




Crashlanders' Alphabet

by Suzanne Palmer
(all rights reserved)

A is for Aliens outside in the night
B is for Bulkheads all locked down and tight
C? We See nothing in darkness so deep,
And D Deadly silence where nothing dares peep.
E is for Emergency which brought us down here
And F is for many things, most of all Fear.
G is for Gods who've forsaken us all
On this H Hellish world where our ship did fall.
I think I hear something, a scratching so slight,
Or am I J Jumpy, imagination in flight?
O K it's gone now, if ever it was there
I wish we'd L Leave, rise into the air!
But the ship is M Mangled, damaged and torn
N No one to fly it, N No one to learn.
For O was for Olaf, our pilot was he,
They tore him apart when he went for a P.
Q Quick come close! I hear it again!
R they R out there and want to get in.
S is for Siren, the sounding alarm.
T no more Time, now we've come to our harm.
U take the gun, cover me, and lo,
We'll take V Vicious aliens out when we go.
They've breached the ship through the damned-W Wall!
XYZ is the code, 321 Goodbye All!