I’ll never know the sound a rocket ship makes,
nor the courage it takes to go
“Where no man has gone before…”
but I do know the magic of a moonlit night
and can still imagine the footprints that remain
in the dust of a billion stars on a small satellite
orbiting the third planet from the sun
In a world before fake
news we had real heroes:
ordinary men who did extraordinary things
Science was expanding and the stars were in our grasp.
And we dreamed, and we believed…
Dreams are smaller now—
hopes dashed by the small-minded and clueless
in positions they don’t deserve
making decisions no one can fathom.
But this day we remember the first human
who ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth,’
and a time when the whole universe
lay before us…
…just
waiting
Godspeed, John Glenn
© Ginny Brannan 2017
Godspeed, John Glenn
© Ginny Brannan 2017
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| Military Portrait of John Glenn, Wikipedia |
July 18th, 1921 to December 8th, 2016
Interred at Arlington National Cemetary on April 6, 2017
Among his many accomplishments he was the first man to orbit the Earth, February 20th, 1962, for the Friendship 7 mission.
Among his many accomplishments he was the first man to orbit the Earth, February 20th, 1962, for the Friendship 7 mission.
*"slipped the surly bonds of Earth" Excerpt from the poem "High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
A hero for when we dreamed big dreams--beautiful write!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I have such respect for this man, this pretty much wrote itself!
DeleteI vividly recall Glenn's orbital mission in '62, Gin. Yeah, can't remember important stuff, but something that happened when I was 9??? This is a wonderful and timely tribute to a man and time when heroes were ten feet tall, the better to lift us on their shoulders to touch the stars.
ReplyDeleteLucky indeed, my friend, for the childhood we had and the history we've known.
Delete