The Beginning of Our Tomorrows

SLAM 2006

July 21, 1969

He took a step into my world,
one rung -- and then another.
My heart panged with the wonder;
my mouth dried to dust.
All breath galloped skyward.

His right foot lowered.
Seconds passed like tiny moths
fluttering against the brilliance,
not of the day, for it was dark,
but of a bright, sweet hope.

For a second Neil hovered,
he, long-dead Jules Verne, and I,
Andre Norton with pen in hand,
Arthur Clarke from England,
all of us, spellbound in joy.

It was dim, the camera blurry,
but Neil was our light.
As his foot touched rock --
moon rock, that outer limit,
science fiction turned to Truth.

Once Buck Rogers soared me;
evenings were spent on the Enterprise.
Planets were scenes of my sci/fi tales,
but then, my soul flapped bigger wings,
wings that sped me solar high.

Clarke, Norton, Verne, and I,
we lifted up our space-starved eyes,
and echoed Neil's momentous words:
"One small step for man,
One giant leap for mankind.”

“Yes,” I added breathlessly.
For with those words, a score of footprints,
and a flag set down in sandy rock,
courageous Neil had at last brought us
the beginning of our tomorrows.