The Poster in the Basement Room

I remember believing

That we're not alone among the stars,

That it wouldn't be too long or too far,

That there is life on Mars.

I remember wanting to believe.

I remember treating the uncertainty

As tantalizing possibility.

I had not yet learned what silence means.

I remember needing to believe,

The thirst, the lust, to seek and find

Of a creature with friends and family, but no kind.

Now, all I believe, I pretend to know:

That we may just be, or may be left, alone;

That any who managed to knock or pick up the phone

Would be too smart to crash our reality show.