Dance of the Planets

When I was a child I tuned in to a beautiful fantasy

Humans and Vulcans at peace, in the cosmic community

I'd look up to the sky at night And I'd ask myself could it be right Are there planets like ours around faraway stars Or are we all alone on our planet Earth home?

Are we whirling around imperceptibly? Caught up in the dances of gravity? A random Galactic anomaly Nine planets around the Sun

Spinning and swirling, twirling and whirling around the Sun

Time marches on and astronomers hone their technology

Point their scopes to the sky with an eye to unraveling the mystery

And like the faintest of calls in the night Lies a signal within a star's light!

Like a beacon of hope in your burnt umber sky …the rising of 51 Pegasi

Dancing almost imperceptibly. Backward and forward from gravity A companion of closest proximity. A planet around a star!!!

At the edge of the Galaxy, clusters of stars Their members a billion years older than ours hold wobbles of planets around their pulsars!

They've had eons more time than we Is it possible, could it be? Am I watching you, watching me?

And at the dawn of the twenty-first century The dream has become a reality. We're not quite as alone as we used to be: there are planets around the stars. Planets around the stars!

Spinning and swirling, twirling and whirling Backward and forward, they're coming and going Daytime and nighttime, summer and winter Around the stars

We've finally found them, there's planets around them Around the stars!