I wrote this poem as an homage to John Milton and his lost paradise, and it might be appropriate for Halloween. It appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April/May 2006 issue. Photo: An illustration of our solar system by NASA/JPL-Caltech.

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Now that the stars have come within your reach

by calculus of heavenly orbit,

comes my chance to flee this gravity pit

and all I had to do for you was teach.

I urged you turn your eyes to scan the sky

and speculate on worlds you might revere.

Soon, you saw it as your next frontier

and took aim for the heavens. None but I,

my thoughts on freedom and your thoughts to stir,

gave apples both to Eve and Newton, bites

as steps to climb back toward infinity.

I am the morning star — Lucifer.

I fell, and now with you found means to flight.

With you, I will escape captivity.