Poems for the Columbia

[Angeline]

As the days go by, we are seeing more tribute poems to the Columbia astronauts. I thought I'd make a thread for them and any thoughts you'd like to add. (I think I got them all as of 2/03--if I missed any, and there is one I might have misread, please add them.)

RIP
Colonel Rick Husband
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Anderson
Commander Laurel Clark
Captain David Brown
Commander William McCool
Doctor Kalpana Chawla
Colonel Ilan Ramon

 

[Angeline]

A Star Away

by TheOrchid ©

Tonight you are starbound
your smile caught in moonlight
your laughter shooting stars
Echoing in the quiet
adventure most will never know.
You walked the heavens
surely a glimpse most never see
you took your dreams..
and a little piece of me.
Never know another heartache
Never know another tear
Never know another uncertain moment
Never know another fear.
Ever more
lingered light
you're dancing in the twilight.
You're just a star away.

Just a star away.

- Dedicated to the crew of the shuttle Columbia.
Feb. 1st, 2003

 

[Angeline]

(this poem should be centered--sorry Rybka!)

Human Remains

by Rybka ©

*

Pieces in Texas
deep in the heart of Texas
in the Lone Star state
lives lost living life they loved.
*
Scattered shuttle shards
of plastic, metal, tile and bone
nothing human remains.
*
Deep is the heart of Texas.
Peace is in Texas.
In the Lone Star state
Seven have come home.

*

 

[Angeline]

And another from Rybka

(that also should be centered)

Seven from Heaven
by Rybka ©


Contrailing across
the Tejas sky
eyes below
kiss you goodbye.

 

[Angeline]

approach

by 03sp ©

"No place to stay up."
said some famed reporter
watching video of debris
scatter and drift from
where explorers should be

 

[Angeline]

In Memorium
by Angeline

The myth of safety is a myth.

In the maze of every world,
ancient questions still beg
for answers that cannot.

The shame of Minos
was born half made,
human and not.

The shame of Minos
was collected in a cup
and put to the lips of a
clever man.

Drink Daedalus.

Then or now,
in any world or country,
make a maze of stone
or ambition.

Build a maze to hold
a monster of its own making.

It never dies.

Daedalus was caught
in betrayal
of worlds and countries
noble as Theseus
seductive as Ariadne,

and having betrayed
his betrayor Daedalus

paid as always
then and now:

innocent destruction.

Seven flags of glory
are wrapped in innocence.

The maze that wheels
on the open sky
flings ambition
at the stars.

Oh Icarus.

You are seven times
innocent.

You are seven times
brighter than the sun
that flung you
back to the maze of earth.

 

[Rybka]

Poems of Passing

This poem is generic but appropriate for the families.

THE MORNING AFTER DEATH

The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth,--

The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.
                      Emily Dickinson

Regards,                       Rybka

 

[Rybka]

Poems of Passing

These next two are appropriate if you think of a ship as a ship.

THE SHIP

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until at length she is only a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky meet and mingle with each other. Then someone at my side exclaims, "There, she's gone!"
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in hull and mast and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "She's gone," there are other eyes watching for her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "There, she comes!"
And that is dying.
                  - Unknown


Regards,                       Rybka

 

[Rybka]

SOME TIME AT EVE

Some time at eve when the tide is low,
I shall slip my mooring and sail away,
With no response to the friendly hail
Of kindred craft in the busy bay.
In the silent hush of the twilight pale,
When the night stoops down to embrace the day,
And the voices call in the waters' flow--
Some time at eve when the tide is low,
I shall slip my mooring and sail away.

Through the purpling shadows that darkly trail
O'er the ebbing tide of the Unknown Sea,
I shall fare me away, with a dip of sail
And a ripple of waters to tell the tale
Of a lonely voyager, sailing away
To the Mystic Isles where at anchor lay
The crafts of those who have sailed before
O'er the Unknown Sea to the Unseen Shore.

A few who have watched me sail away
Will miss my craft from the busy bay;
Some friendly barks that were anchored near,
Some loving souls that my heart held dear,
In silent sorrow will drop a tear--

But I shall have peacefully furled my sail
In moorings sheltered from storm or gale,
And greeted the friends who have sailed before
O'er the Unknown Sea to the Unseen Shore.
                  - Elizabeth Clark Hardy

Regards,                       Rybka

 

[JUDO]

A Brief Moment of Brilliance
--- dedicated to those who knew the Columbia's crew the best ---

For a short brief moment
I rode by your side,
Grace brought me to you
And love glued us together.

A brilliance, a warmth, a tender understanding
Unknown to me before.
That was the touch, laughter,
And soul you shared with me.

For a brief moment
You, an eagle among the clouds,
Coupled with me, letting me ride along,
Hanging on your every movement.

We loved, you and I, and
For one brief moment,
I had a glimpse of the Heavens
You sought among Men.

A flash of God's brilliance
Brought you to me,
And took you away.

With these tears, I thank you --
For my love has flown,
And shall not return.

 

[Rybka]

This, of course, is always appropriate

Taps

Day is done,
gone the sun,
from the Lakes from the hills from the sky,
all is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
Fading light,
Dims the sight,
And a star Gems the sky Gleaming bright,
From afar, Drawing nigh, Falls the night.
Thanks and praise,
For our days,
Neath the sun, Neath the stars, Neath the sky,
As we go, This we know, God is nigh."

FYI:
Origin of "Taps"
During the Civil War, in July 1862 when the Army of the Potomac was in camp, Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield summoned Pvt. Oliver Wilcox Norton, his brigade bugler, to his tent. Butterfield, who disliked the colorless "extinguish lights" call then in use, whistled a new tune and asked the bugler to sound it for him. After repeated trials and changing the time of some notes which were scribbled on the back of an envelope, the call was finally arranged to suit Gen. Butterfield and used for the first time that night. Pvt. Norton, who on several occasions, had sounded numerous new calls composed by his commander, recalled his experience of the origin of "Taps" years later:.

"One day in July 1862 when the Army of the Potomac was in camp at Harrison's Landing on the James River, Virginia, resting and recruiting from its losses in the seven days of battle before Richmond, Gen. Butterfield summoned the writer to his tent, and whistling some new tune, asked the bugler to sound it for him. This was done, not quite to his satisfaction at first, but after repeated trials, changing the time of some of the notes, which were scribbled on the back of an envelope, the call was finally arranged to suit the general.
"He then ordered that it should be substituted in his brigade for the regulation "Taps" (extinguish lights) which was printed in the Tactics and used by the whole army. This was done for the first time that night. The next day buglers from nearby brigades came over to the camp of Butterfield's brigade to ask the meaning of this new call. They liked it, and copying the music, returned to their camps, but it was not until some time later, when generals of other commands had heard its melodious notes, that orders were issued, or permission given, to substitute it throughout the Army of the Potomac for the time-honored call which came down from West Point.
In the western armies the regulation call was in use until the autumn of 1863. At that time the XI and XII Corps were detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent under command of Gen. Hooker to reinforce the Union Army at Chattanooga, Tenn. Through its use in these corps it became known in the western armies and was adopted by them. From that time, it became and remains to this day the official call for "Taps." It is printed in the present Tactics and is used throughout the U.S. Army, the National Guard, and all organizations of veteran soldiers.
Gen. Butterfield, in composing this call and directing that it be used for "Taps" in his brigade, could not have foreseen its popularity and the use for another purpose into which it would grow. Today, whenever a man is buried with military honors anywhere in the United States, the ceremony is concluded by firing three volleys of musketry over the grave, and sounding with the trumpet or bugle "Put out the lights. Go to sleep"...There is something singularly beautiful and appropriate in the music of this wonderful call. Its strains are melancholy, yet full of rest and peace. Its echoes linger in the heart long after its tones have ceased to vibrate in the air."

I will stop know. Sorry for being so maudlin. but I was a NASA fellow in graduate school, and knew one of the astronauts who perished in Apollo 1.
I feel like I have lost some family.

Regards,                       Rybka

 

[Angeline]

JUDO!

That is absolutely beautiful!

I loved the following:

Grace brought me to you
And love glued us together.

And:

A flash of God's brilliance
Brought you to me,
And took you away.


Tell me again how you can't write free verse!

 

[Angeline]

Thank You Too, Rybka

Your choices of poems by others are wonderful. I especially like Some Time at Eve and The Ship. Thank you for sharing them.

 

[JUDO]

Re: JUDO!

That is absolutely beautiful!

I loved the following:

Grace brought me to you
And love glued us together.

And:

A flash of God's brilliance
Brought you to me,
And took you away.


Tell me again how you can't write free verse!

Thanks, my favorites, too. But I get scared of getting lost in a sea of words. Flailing about, grabbing for the life preserver, only to discover it's the "O" in SOS.

It took me some time to put my mind where I would be looking from the times I'd lost someone close, and in aftersight, remembering the precious magic we had had together.


- Judo