The Explorers

Gagarin
And then Shepard
And all those who strived
To fly
And couldn’t
Because the experiments were
Unsuccessful and
Also
Something untoward happened

Loss of life so that others
Of us could go
Up there

Frank loss
Before Gagarin
After
Shepard

The cost like that paid
By
Icarus
To soar toward the sun
More than
The waxen body’s made

And yet
Crazy
And extraordinary
We go
And keep
On going

‘Til the satellites
Than the ships
Then
Space stations

Now
Moon
Once down though now
To live there

Now Mars
Inside our time
Our
Reach

It’s danger clearly
Also
Vision and new
Industry
Even good for business
(tin foil
and the microwave from the moon
race)

Though more the skill of hands
Pushed by minds
And hope
To take
Us there
And there and there

C L Couch


International Day of Human Space Flight

Photo by Planet Volumes on Unsplash