They rise on a pillar of fire,
leaving behind the noise of nations,
the weight of argument,
the smallness of borders
...
Caged within the placid hall,
I paced the Golgotha of my freedom;
Searching with unseeing eyes
…freedom in those mocking walls.
...
Like a bird pregnant with fibroids
The stricken eagle,
On wounded sinews
Cragged the mountain top
...
Caressed at night
By the moon's gentle beams
Hugged warmly at noon
By the Sun's infinite fluorescence
She floats endlessly
Driven by the Maker's unseen hand.
...
In a sudden spasm
She convulsed, fury vented
Hillside, slope side,
All tumbled in a cataclysm of shredded timbers
...
Behind jealous clouds
Peeped the Sun at shrouded Earth
Star crossed skies paled sickly as
Pompous stars hid their glitter
...
When Giants Speak of Peace
They came with careful language first,
the two great nations of iron and fire.
...
Moonstronauts
They rise on a pillar of fire,
leaving behind the noise of nations,
the weight of argument,
the smallness of borders
The pillar of fire
carries them outward—
not to conquer,
but to witness
what waits beyond the familiar sky.
Earth loosens its hold slowly.
Blue fades into distance,
into something precious
because it is leaving them.
They do not speak much of fear.
It sits quietly beside them—
acknowledged,
but not obeyed.
Ahead—
the far side.
That hidden face
that has watched us for ages
without ever being seen
by the naked eye of home.
And when they cross into it—
there is a moment,
sharp and absolute—
no signal,
no voice,
no Earth.
Only the craft,
the crew,
and the deep, unbroken silence
of space itself.
They pass behind the Moon—
into absence,
into the oldest dark
human beings have ever entered alive.
No applause follows them there.
No headlines reach that place.
Only the steady pulse of courage,
the quiet trust in return.
And then—
light begins again.
Signals return like breath.
Voices find one another.
Earth rises—
not beneath their feet,
but ahead of their longing.
They have circled the unseen,
touched the edge of isolation,
and come back carrying
something difficult to name.
Not triumph—
something deeper.
A knowing.
That we are small—
yet capable of crossing
immense silence.
That we are fragile—
yet willing to leave everything familiar
to understand what lies beyond it.