I will be honest. My first impression was narwhal, like @whack.science and @deadspace. After all, I am a nerd, I think maybe we all are here on Steem at least a bit... and nerds love narwhals. For some reason. Perhaps it is the trochee fixation.
Anyway. This piece is visually ambiguous enough that it can be multiple things at once. You say it started as a gloomy rocket and became something else, but I still see the rocket; not just a rocket but our rocket.
Here we are after over a year of downward trending markets and shit is still not fixed. Many of our comrades, who were subsisting on faith alone, have given up hope. At this time I think that we have reached a point where most of those holding onto "hope" as their only motive have let go and moved on; maybe with an intention to come back if things start to look up again.
Those of us left? We see the rocket for what it is. Uncertain and made of smoke and empty promises. But we still see it, even as the illusion disintegrates before our eyes, and it is beautiful anyway. And we are not hopeful, that one day it will be made material and take off with us on board. Instead we are determined; we are holding that rocket into the most rocket-like shape we can with the power of our collective will and talents. We are kindling the flames that will ignite the engines. We are determined to get this motherfucker off the ground.
Others may see puffs of smoke. But we... we still see the dream of our rocket. And we are gonna fight for that dream until it is realised, or else, we will fade into the grey puffs of nothingness right along with it.
Or it's a narwhal. But nah, I like mine better now ^_^
Is it turning into the grey puffs or emerging from them? Maybe once it emerges fully, it is no longer covered in the grey puffs at all and looks completely different. Despite the way this year has started, I think we have enough of those who will will it to lift off and reach Moon, Mars etc ^^