Christmas conjunction of planets: Ten anthems for the solar system

Sun

Home star, you’re never too far
Lighting up our lives wherever we are

On moon or mars, near or far
Home star, you’re never too far

Keeping us all from drifting apart
In the deep dark galactic bar

Igniting the skies each day
In the Orion spur of the Milky Way

Streaming light across the dark space
Primeval god, Universe’s glowing face.

Mercury

Moon’s twin with much cratered face
Locked with the Sun in tidal embrace

Radiating spiders, strange terrain
Gigantic rays, a cosmic melon

Jumping planet, winged messenger
Here a day lasts longer than a year

Hermes, Buddh, Nabu, the hour Star,
A roving eccentric straying near and far

Flirting with Venus in sweet twilight
Bringing to the lovers pure delight.

Venus

The evening star blazing bright
Love goddess pouring pure delight

Turning clockwise bending rules
The rebel princess dyed in wool

The sun rises in west, sets in east
Relishing celestial beauty feast

Dancing with earth in twists and turns
Making pentagrams, stunning patterns

Secrets hidden beneath opaque clouds
Air crushing, volcanoes thundering loud

Morning star of the starry night
Ushering a new dawn filled with light.

Moon

Celestial diamond, primeval timepiece
Cosmic lamppost, night’s soft kiss

Seducing oceans, occulting sun
Silver goddess lighting up the heaven

Mankind’s great leap, ephemeral solace
A pit-stop to explore the deep space

Eternal companion, ever morphing face
Sensual sentinel in tidal embrace

Watching in silence Earth rise and fall
Moon, moon, moon, we chant it all.

Earth

Our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl
The most beautiful planet in the universe

All the continents and all the oceans
United we stand as flora and fauna

United we stand as species of one earth
Diverse cultures, beliefs and ways

We are humans, Earth is our home.
All the people and all the nations

All for one, one for all
United we unfurl the blue marble flag.

Mars

Earth’s twin in the Milky Way
Similar seasons, length of the day

Channels, valleys, dikes and dunes
Dry ice, dust devils, two moons

Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons
Deepest canyons, highest mountains

Hellas planitia, Borealis basin
Flattest plains as never seen

Mangal, Nergal, fire star,
Ares, Horus, god of war

Ma’adim, Mamers, Marte, Marwth,
A solace for the choking Earth

Put an end to all the petty wars
Get in spaceships, sail to Mars.

Jupiter

Celestial break dancer, delighting souls
Bulging in the middle, flattened at poles

Wish fulfiller, harbinger of good omen
Remover of sorrows, guardian of Heaven

Zeus, Brihaspati – the Guru of Gods
Protecting planets, braving all odds

Colourful clouds swirling like curd
Giant storms wider than the Erde

Ganymede, Calisto, Europa – multiple moons
Water-worlds where possibly alien life croons.

Saturn

Celestial gymnast dancing with rings
Clipping with a sickle misfortune’s wings

Whirling like a dervish in deep trance
A beacon of justice, fertility and romance

Deceptively peaceful, a churning cauldron
With chaotic rings and polar hexagon

A hundred moons, a thousand moonlets
A world of its own, some exuding water jets

Zazel, Cronus, Phainon, Shani
The final resting place of the Cassini.

Uranus

The cosmic magician wearing cyan
making solid diamond crystals rain

Diamond-bergs floating in diamond ocean
the coldest planet in retrograde motion

Celestial acrobat with unusual axial tilt,
the keeper of the dead in electric blue kilt

Longish years shortish days
giant ice ball rotating sideways

Watcher of the skies, ruler of heaven
Jupiter’s ancestor, father of Saturn

Lord of Aquarius adorned with rings
holding forth with feats and swings.

Neptune

Lord of the Kuiper belt, god of ocean
Celestial bouncer in slow motion

Cosmic doorkeeper, the dwarf hunter
Destabilising orbits of wayward drifters

Pushing them out into interstellar space
Or pulling them into the sun’s embrace

Winds breaking the supersonic barrier
The windiest place in the heliosphere

In deep darkness shining blue and bright
Bathing under the sun’s last feeble light

A cocktail of Helium, Hydrogen and Methane,
The ice giant, at times sacred, at times profane.