Statio Tranquillitatis

(retro reflector)

 

Tranquility base is where we made our home,

so many years ago for just a spell,

yet where we dwell in time forevermore,

in lore and wonder-dazzled reverie

When finally, we came to see and understand.

 

And as the lunar lander's second stage

was disengaged to launch and sail away,

thrown back to space by rocket's silent thrust,

among the dust and stones, we left behind,

a mirror shining, poised and pointed whence we came.

 

So we might aim a light in later days,

to see conveyed proof of our memory,

that truly, we had trodden on this place.

we fire lasers, measuring the time,

the length required to bounce back upon ourselves.

 

But what this surface tells is but a glimpse,

A glance that hints what lunar views reflect,

Pure truth of our connection, first to last,,

within an orb of glass on pivot spun,

Round an indifferent sun throughout a careless void.

 

Each living thing enjoying gifts of chance,

that such a flight of fancy might exist,

impossible statistics culminate,

across long ages staggering the mind,

what change and time made wended way to find us here?

 

So pure and clear a vision graced our eyes,

as we surmised at last our own extent,

and lost means to invent mythology.

such gift to see ones limits from afar,

such curse to know we are, and that is simply all.

 

Thus we are called at last to finally own,

the place we call our home, our fledgling base.

our mirrored face. To reckon pride and shame,

and someday make an image we may view,

as true tranquility from vantage of the moon.


 (From 'Tranquility Base', a poetry reading and art show from 2019, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing).