Once upon a thatched little roof,
there sat a young girl named Adelaide Kloof.
Adelaide Kloof was enamored of stars.
She studied black holes. She dreamt about Mars.
A family of astronauts, Adelaide had
and being the youngest made Adi quite sad.
For she alone had not yet been there
to that world up above where the brave only dare.
Her family would all get their space jackets on
and leave for a journey a month or two long.
And Adelaide Kloof wished with all of her might
that once, they'd allow her to go on a flight.
And she watched as her sisters, all five, climbed into
the rocket ship, each bidding Adi adieu.
And the father would kiss her on top of the head,
but no matter how much young Adelaide pled,
he told her, "Sweet Adi, you're too young to go."
And the mother said, "Darling, we have to say no."
So Adi was left to contemplate stars
and dream of black holes and journeys to Mars.
One cold, rainy night, while the family prepared
for a journey the (almost) whole family could share,
poor Adelaide felt quite left out indeed
as the mother got ready the things she would need
to go spend the month with her uncle and aunt
while everyone went on the family space jaunt.
And Adelaide couldn't help but to wince
to think of her cousin, so naive and dense,
inanely conversing of boys or her hair,
which to Adelaide sounded like so much hot air.
"Now the McGees have allowed you to stay at their place,"
the mother said sternly. "You be nice to Grace."
"But why can't I just this once go with you?"
Young Adelaide whined. "I want to come too."
But the mother said no and to her cousin's, she went
and when she saw Gracie, she started to vent.
"They won't let me go. They say I'm too young."
She balled up her fists. She wagged her sharp tongue.
Grace picked a dress for school the next day
and waited til Adelaide had had her say.
She got dressed for bed and started to yawn
and then questioned simply, "Why not just sneak on?"
Adelaide's eyes lit up at the thought
and grabbing her things, she started to plot.
"If I can, unnoticed, simply sneak aboard,
I can hide in the room where the cargo is stored.
And after a week, we'll be far enough out,
they'll be incapable of changing route."
Out of the window, and onto the roof,
away from the house, snuck Adelaide Kloof.
She came to the rocket, quickly got aboard.
The floor started shaking. The engines, they roared.
So Adelaide Kloof went up into space
and gasped when the moon uncovered its face,
and the Milky Way danced as the comets raced by.
Adelaide was so happy, she felt she could cry.
For three endless days, Adelaide was content
to watch the stars gleam and sparkle and glint,
but on the third night, she thought she'd explore.
She pushed away boxes and found the room door.
She wandered around, a bit lost in the night,
doing her best to stay out of sight.
She saw the control room, examined the bridge,
then got rather hungry and opened the fridge.
She got out an apple and some astronaut goop,
which said it was pizza, but looked more like soup.
And she got out some cake, with white icing on top,
and ate almost half before she could stop.
"Back to my room," said Adelaide Kloof
and she picked up her crumbs to not leave any proof.
And on her way back, she spotted the dad
and having to hide made her feel rather sad.
But when she got back, she tripped on a wire
which started a spark that turned into a fire!
The family observed the cargo bay flame,
and not knowing who or what was to blame,
they scurried around and started to shout,
"We must open the gate, so the fire can get out."
So with one accord, they sealed off the door,
opened the gate and watched everything soar
out into space, but couldn't see from their view,
that with all their stuff went Adelaide too.
So, from that moment on, Adi soared with the stars,
out with the black holes and planets like Mars.
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