This is the moment I have waited for.
The night is violet, with sudden
sprays of asteroids. The ice-horizon
lightens into lilac; solid forms emerge
like icebergs trapped in time, and seas
eternally immobilised.
................ Revolving imperceptibly
through thresholds of intensity, Europa's
lunar landscape starts to run with flame,
as if Vesuvius and Krakatoa melted
soundlessly. The frost crust crackles
underfoot, crevasses open slits of eyes,
the ice, the ice lies licked by purest
incandescent tongues and rays,
a sleeping goddess that no burning
kisses can awaken. My arms extend
towards the gas giant rising to eclipse
the skies - woman become prism,
pierced by beauty I cannot describe.