Gagarin and Columbus

GAGARIN AND COLUMBUS Brave or foolhardy He was a dreamer of voyages Into unexplored, unknown, undiscovered country, The first to pursue the visionary images That few had even seen clearly. On an odyssey in void or foam Many followed his footsteps on The path but did not return home; And fell over the edge of the horizon With no return to Ithaca’s loam. The face of an entirely new world Never before seen mentally or visually : He reached over the horizon and touched It, as his voices told him this was all folly, With no light, no chart unfurled. …………………………………………………………….. NOTES: (a) This poem was written to commemorate the 50 th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s spaceflight. (b ) Ithaca was the home of Odysseus. (c) “voices…..folly “ is based on T S ELIOT’S lines in Journey of the Magi. (d) Gagarin, Columbus, Odysseus, Eliot were all undertaking a journey into the unknown.