The Moon Remembers The Astronauts Poem by Paul Hartal

Neil Armstrong arrived first,
Landing the lunar module of Apollo 11
At the Sea of Tranquility
On July 19,1969.
"That's one small step for man,
One giant leap for mankind",
He said,
And Edwin Aldrin stood next to him.

Later others came.
In all a dozen men walked on the moon
Perturbing her pristine lot with rhythmic dockings.
Conrad, Bean, Shepard and Mitchell,
Scott, Irwin, Young and Duke were there,
Strolling in moon dust, before Schmitt and Cernan
From the crew of Apollo 17
Touched down in the Taurus-Littrow valley
On a December day of 1972.

But since then human foot did not step on the moon
And she stares at the frail blue sphere of her neighbor
With the abandoned hills of Hadley Apennines
And a quiet Ocean of Storms.

She orbits the Earth with desolate lunar craters;
A convivial loner, shining unfrequented,
Her arcane face keeps waxing and waning;
And although forlorn, reclusive and remote,
In her silent yellow solitude
The Moon remembers the astronauts.