by Daniel Kelly – 2026
G C G She was born in the bowels of a Space Port, C G D Friends are few on the Star Ways, Em D C G To a mother that she never knew, C G Em D She had to struggle as she grew, G D G In the space between on the Star Ways, She learned how to steal on the Space Port, She learned to hide, she learned to fight, She learned to love the endless night, Around her neck was a crystal, A broken shard of brilliant green, All that was left of her parents’ dream. One day she stowed on a freighter, Discovered by the captain mean, It was face the void or learn to clean, And she learned the way of the freighters, The pull and push of world and sun, The cash reward of a job well done, She saw the worlds a plenty, A thousand races, worlds and tongues, Across the galaxy far flung, But no world did she find homely, No people she could call her own, No comfort or the warmth of home, She left the ship at just twenty, And joined another freighter bold, To learn the craft of the engine old Many hours she spent as apprentice Standing in the coupling’s glow, Valve and wire, humming low, The engineer was kindly man, He’d driven ships the galaxy’s span, Fuel and thrust sat in his hand, He taught her all there was to know, Of ship and drive, and matter’s flow, The secret tools that made them go, He lost his life in a Space Port brawl, She took his place, as Engineer, And sadly from the port did steer, Sometimes she sat by the engine, And gazed into her crystal green, Inside another life she’d dream, One day out there on the Star Way, The scanner showed a ship drifting free, No return signal from the company, She boarded with the shuttle crew, Every deck and cabin bare, Cargo sound, and musty air, On the bridge they found a body, A letter fallen at his feet, Still sat in the captain’s seat, The letter said I’m sorry, The virus has the crew destroyed, I shot them out into the void, I wish I’d made it home love, To see the birth of our darling girl, And take her out beyond the worlds, Bones they clutched a crystal shard, And as she matched it with her own, She knew that she had found her home. And now she captains the Star Ways, No better freighter has there been, Painted in the crystal green.