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Once, grubby-kneed and drenched in sunbeams, Head full of stars I knew us as Earthlings. Co-dwellers of Planet Earth. In my vast, cosmological atlas, There were dozens of tiny pinpricks- Other worlds- Where, I knew, would live Martians Venusians Alpha Centaurians Pleiadeans And Andromedans... And how I longed to meet them. I would flash my torch Into the endless, resonating blackness, A secret, coded signal: "Come! Please come! We are waiting for you!" And then I grew big, And I learned the truth About Earthlings. That Earthlings hurt other Earthlings. That Earthlings kill other Earthlings. I learned that Earthlings Are, actually, baddies. I stopped signalling. I really hope those Andromedans stay away. Jan Clarke
