Nearly no one marks the penultimate midnight.
Body and daughter are bunked down under heaps
Of warm bedding in a frosted canvas tipi, one
Sleeping soundly, the other still shivering from
An underclad jaunt outside to peek at the stars.
It’s like that. Out there a small robot, artifice,
Approaches an object now called Ultima Thule
In the Kuiper Belt, well beyond Pluto, well before
Heliopause. The robot left before the object
Was even known to exist. This date likewise
Will intersect with events as yet unknown on its way
Into the unknown year. Rigorous extrapolation
From existing data makes prediction possible,
Cuts down on the quantity of surprise, but even
When strikingly similar to what was predicted
What happens was always unknown when we left.
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