First Men on the Moon

 

First Men on the Moon  

"The Eagle has landed!" —Apollo II Commander Neil A. Armstrong
"A magnificent desolation!" — Air Force Colonel Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.
July 20, 1969

 

That afternoon in mid-July,

Two pilgrims watched from distant space

The moon ballooning in the sky.

They rose to meet it face-to-face.

 

Their spidery spaceship, Eagle, dropped

Down gently on the lunar sand.

And when the module's engines stopped,

Rapt silence fell across the land.

 

The first man down the ladder, Neil,

Spoke words that we remember now—

“One small step...” It made us feel

As if we were there too, somehow.

 

When Neil planted the flag and Buzz

Collected lunar rocks and dust,

They hopped like kangaroos because

Of gravity. Or wanderlust?

 

A quarter million miles away,

One small blue planet watched in awe.

And no one who was there that day

Will soon forget the sight they saw.

 

J. Patrick Lewis, "First Men on the Moon" from A Burst of Firsts: Doers, Shakers, and Record Breakers, published by The Dial Press. Copyright © 2001