An Ode to the Stars

To those who had to dream the dream,
To those who caught the vision.
We salute you all.
One thing is not as it should seem.
To leave from the norm is the decision.
And it seems a fall.

But for those who saw the action
And those who knew what they had felt,
I have never known
Just how it took place, the transaction.
You all left the Earth, taking what you were dealt,
Know the seeds of faith have been sown.

Some of you died, pursuing light.
Most of you lived long enough to tell the tale.
But to all we give thanks
For the ones who saw the stars so bright
Who lost all sense of time and scale,
Of the crystal river, you will see its banks.

And who exactly are we to take from these their mirth
In knowing that their home below, on their feet is shod?
As it goes, this they say:
"…And slipped the surly bonds of Earth,
"To touch the face of God."
Who are we to take that away?

I pay my homage to the ones who paid the price
And slipped away from all earthly vice
To a place so wholly better.
They took off the corporeal fetter
That bonded them so tight
Finally the chains were broken
By God's celestial might.