On Mars - Poem #76

One step for a man I watched
when I was only 26
and knew I’d live to see the day
Magellan set a foot on Mars.

I would be a lucky one
to see the great ship’s mighty sail
capturing the solar breeze
to take us to that distant shore.

It hasn’t quite turned out that way;
No longer do we dream great dreams
passing homeless in our streets
leaky pipes; rusted beams.

Once we were a mighty race
no great dream beyond our reach;
so small a people we’ve become
distracted by celebrity.

No room here for Galileo
da Gama, Roald Amundsen
a tribe which will not feed it’s hungry
really don’t deserve the stars

How long until we see the light?
How long until we are deserving
of all creation in our reach
there twinkling in the darkest night?

In dreams I’ll make the trip alone
sometime in a future distant
setting foot on other worlds
to see what had been planned for us.

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