NASA's Elegy

NASA’s Elegy

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Red China on the Red Planet;

Dragons have breathed fire on the eagle.

And I wish I could say it fought the good fight

That its claws weren’t dulled in vain pursuits of might.

The beak’s arthritic from it catching prey

Its wits have long led it astray.

So sad, too, that olive branch has snapped –

The writing on the scroll no longer apt.

It’s crying in its fall from grace

Down to a horrid, rocky place.

Our hand to save it’s there too late

Great wings they’re simply added weight.

The Eagle hits the water in a flame of glory;

Extinguished in a light-blue jubilee.

But notoriety won't warm the chicks
Encased in frigid shells with somber sticks.
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Of Mother’s Eggs, what will become?

Perhaps of death and sorrow they’ll succumb?

No, I have greater faith in life than this

They shall rise with love from such abyss!

The youth they will rewrite the scroll

And mend the branch once more a whole!

A work in progress.