Poem: "Our Dreams Take Flight"
This poem came out of the February 2, 2010 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from wcg and sponsored by xjenavivex. When xjenavivex asked me what poems I wished had been sponsored and why, I thought of this quote:
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I want to build spaceships. I want to teach people to yearn for the vasty deeps of space. I'm a poet, not an engineer ... so I wrote this.
Our Dreams Take Flight
Our dreams take flight this morning, and bear a crew of seven;
In shell of sleek ceramic, they launch themselves toward heaven
Where distant stars are shining and wait for our arrival.
Their making is a legend; their beauty knows no rival.
The future is arising, with hope inside for leaven.
This flight is nothing novel; we'll rise again tomorrow
And back before our blackboards, a new design we'll borrow
To fling our dreams yet higher and farther toward forever.
Today we watch the liftoff, and see the Earth's bonds sever,
And vow that we'll continue, whatever cost in sorrow:
Our dreams take flight.
With hands of white-hot metal, they tear the air asunder
They blow past waves of barley, and thresh the fields with thunder
Our bones are racked with shivers, our souls are winged with fire,
Our ears are filled with roaring, and stricken with desire
We turn our eyes toward heaven, and gaze on them in wonder:
Our dreams take flight.