The Apollo Years Poem by Roni Margulies

6. Neil Armstrong

We've brought 20 kilos of moonstone back.
They're being analysed in detail still.
Perhaps they'll find a new element,
perhaps traces of odd and ancient life.

I went, took my steps, returned.
I pass the baton wearily on.
Where they'll go next, what they'll find,
I know not, nor care much.

I went, took my steps, returned.
True, I cannot ever forget those years,
that first step off the capsule.
But whenever I think of it these days,

I reach for my bottle of Scotch.
I cannot believe we carried
stones from one world to another.
What was it we were looking for

and why look for it on the moon?

Translation: 2014, Roni Margulies