human,
not quite human.

like us,
they are forever frozen in eliptical orbit
of the sphere where hell hath risen.

look up,
they view tiny totems of prospective intelligences.
hoping to death that the intelligent aren’t indifferent.

look down,
green vegetation overwhelms otherwise barren land,
which they possess no desire to cover with modern monoliths.

look within,
technicolour images are held amid each and every not quite mortal brain.
for on gliese 581 it is customary to accept marbles as eyes and the sun as a soul.

the only thing they ****
is the darkness that defines the earthling psyche.

“does this make them human?”

what is human?