Earthrise

Rest still a while, tall monument
Wide cordon, they ascend
On par, each one, three’s compliment
Each one, they so depend

By aisle, on foot they say goodbye
Flag waving crowd their honour
Atop the tower, idle high
Albeit in strange posture

A timely nerve, this glistening dawn
Officially on hold
The moulded, titled shortlist drawn
By clockwork rules controlled

A backwards count, their hearts excite
In capsule, crew entrenched
When zero reached, exhausts ignite
From Earth and Launch pad wrenched

Defiant blaze, the moon-ship lurched
“Cleared tower”, the remark
Lost sight, unearthly rainbows perch
Break free to skyward arc

Through darkened sky, the limits fringed
Supersonic in a snap
Sound barrier reached against the wind
A double thunderclap

To slip Earth’s bounds, the onward surge
Co-action at nerve centre
Dark side of Moon, they then emerged
In harsh expanse, they shelter

To travel home, the men en-route
Detached, descent from orbit
Fired clear and free expand those chutes
The heat shield to absorb it

Re-enter then, the spacecraft right
Third Newton’s Law of Motion
Their task done well, they stayed in flight
And ended in the ocean

Revered in name, their major deed
They found our World down-sized
To comprehend and plant a seed
Their picture at Earthrise