“Ode to the Noble Tardigrade”

Slow stepping little water bear
Microzoa in repeating parts
Billions of microscopic pieces
Eight legs and a phylum starts

Doted upon as a moss piglet
Slurping dainty drops of dew
From the moist bog plains
Plump, powerful, rivaled by few

Diversified across the earth
Mountains, seas abounding
In the rainforests, ice and snow
Their vitality is resounding

Tough, chubby, all extreme
Heat, pressure, lack of air
Fear not, they will endure
Heights and depths without despair

Water bear, our tiniest friend
How can you be just so?
Your hands stick like suction cups
Holding on you grow fallow

We do not see you with our eyes
But we’ve found you rarely die
Oh noble tardigrade,
A little astronaut in the sky.