Arrival

I'm hoping to see "First Man" tonight, the movie about Neil Armstrong and the moon landing. It seems therefore appropriate to write a poem reflecting on that. The poem references Kennedy's speech (which echoes throughout), the Apollo 8 crew's reading of Genesis, when we finally saw the Earth as a "Blue Planet", one planet, our only home, the impetus of the cold war, and Frank Sinatra!

I remember being woken in the middle of the night by my dad, putting my dressing gown on over my pyjamas, my slippers on and coming down stairs to watch our old 425 line black and white TV set, and this grainy picture as Armstrong went down onto the moon's surface for the first time.

Those were the golden years, where technology was just beginning to change the world - "the white heat of technology" as Harold Wilson put it, and when it seemed the future was opening up in all sorts of ways that a previous generation would have dismissed as science fiction.

I am so reminded of this time by Fred Hoyle's words: "It was an uncertain generation, not quite knowing where it was going In a sense it was an heroic generation.,"

Arrival

We choose to go to the moon

Apollo launching, blaze of flame

We will get there, get there soon

The Cold War, space race game

Not because it is easy, but hard

Around the moon, see Earth rise

Flying behind our own backyard

In the beginning, becoming wise

The Cold War: we intend to win

Tranquillity landing, all is calm

For all mankind, for all our kin

First steps, the sweetest balm

Sinatra Sings: Fly me to the moon

No longer just a crooner’s tune