Colonization

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1/19/2025 for Colonisation Poetry Contest sponsored by Kai Michael Neumann

In the nineteen sixties, growing up,
ideas filled my overflowing cup.
The future then was hopeful and bright.
It took eight minutes for golden light
to shine to the earth down from the sun,
traveling through space to land upon 
a boy who was one year less than ten,
who worshipped the astronaut, John Glenn.

Do you recall, old friend, you and me,
how those rays missed us, 'neath shaded tree?
We studied feats of exploration,
learning all about our proud nation,
not knowing, in our days of wonder, 
that we tore native lands asunder.
The planets would be our next frontier.
We'd be like Daniel Boone, the pioneer.

My excitement grew - I knew that soon
Neil Armstrong would land upon the moon.
One day, I'd fly space age technology 
and create a Martian colony.
Time flies, and how I wish I could say, 
the fire of stars still burns in me today.
Once, ideas filled a child's starry eyes, 
and mind, a fruitful site to colonize.

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Hilda Greenhough

Date: 1/20/2025 6:40:00 PM

These are familiar thoughts. I remember wanting to know all about Space and rockets, however, I stopped short of wanting to go to some rocky planet where I might die. It was one of those "You go first" moments.

David Crandall
Date: 1/20/2025 6:50:00 PM

I recently saw an Apollo 11 documentary, and it's just flabbergasting the amount of risk those astronauts took, as the first to land on the moon. OK, I won't call them crazy, I'll call them brave. Maybe both.

David Crandall
Date: 1/20/2025 6:49:00 PM

I think I was happy to go to other planets in my fantasies, but if I were honest with myself, I'd never go up in one of those tin cans. I saw one of the Gemini (early 60s precursor to Apollo) nose cones at the Smithsonian once, and thought, you'd have to be crazy to go up in one of those.