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The Sun is shining brightly in the sky,
the birds are singing and flying above in the air,
there isn’t a cloud or a frown to be found anywhere-
it is as if it were a normal, beautiful, day,
when everything around everyone can easily be understood and quantified-
and then, slowly, darkness sweeps over the world
and bathes all in shadow: as a planet, a moon, and a star,
come into perfect alignment together,
and our greatest inspirations in our sky put on a show.
Within a matter of a few seconds,
day has seemingly become night, all eyes look above to the sky
where a phenomenon of nature is taking place-
our Sun’s light has momentarily been eclipsed,
leaving only a faint golden halo to be seen
where minutes ago it was shining epically, blindingly, boldly, and bright.
What was being witnessed now by all
under this veil of magical solar and lunar synchronicity
was strangely and instantly emotional, for myself
and for everyone around me.
I felt humble, and small;
but also blessed, content, overwhelmed,
and elevated somehow, as if I were now ten feet tall.
For the briefest of seconds,
everyone was transfixed by the exact same thing, at the exact same time,
and it felt like we were in the midst of something incredibly special-
something that no one on Earth had a part to play in,
but which they were intended to have witnessed-
something wholly divine.
Then, a burst of unbelievable light exploded on the left-hand-side of the ring
and separated the sun and the moon from their union,
sunlight washed over the world again like a wave,
and revealed Earth- humanities home, that we sometimes take for granted-
to be the perfection that we have been looking for all our lives,
the enigma that requires no solution.
The moon slowly fades beyond our sight, for now,
and the sun seems bigger, brighter,
as if it had been remade behind the silhouette of the moon, somehow.
People continued to look at the sun
in almost disbelief at what they had seen for a few minutes more sometime after,
before returning to whatever it was that they were doing before:
some were still in-awe of the spectacle,
some returned to work without hesitation,
and some people celebrated their joy at having shared such an experience together
by kissing each-other on the lips.
I stood with my hands behind my back, with my eyes closed,
hypnotised long-after by the meaning of the moments of darkness and light-
still with the thoughts in my mind that were brought to life
by the gift of the eclipse.
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”-
the first words spoken by Neil Armstrong
when he became the first man to set foot on the Moon;
since I first heard those electrifying and spell-binding words
when I was a child
I have repeated them to myself from time to time,
so much so that those infamous words
have become more and more meaningful to me,
and they have become the words that are always on my mind.
What NASA, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins,
committed to achieving and achieved on July 21st, 1969,
were the first steps in a new age of human endeavour, accomplishment,
and optimism, that may still be progressing at the pace of a walk;
however what has happened as a result of the success
of the Apollo 11 mission and its crew can already be seen all over the world
in what has been a relatively short length of time.
Neil Armstrong embodied hope,
Neil Armstrong embodied adventure,
Neil Armstrong embodied the wonder of looking through a telescope,
Neil Armstrong embodied the best of all men and women-
that which makes us all look up at the sky and reach towards the future.
I wish I could have been alive to see the live televised broadcast
of the moment when Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon on a black and white TV-
the people that saw this extraordinary and super-human accomplishment
before their eyes must have been so overwhelmed,
they must have felt like they too were walking on the moon!
What a feeling of hope must have been in the air between everyone,
what a sight it must have been to see!
Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11,
from the moment that they were launched into space,
set into motion a new world that, to this day and forever,
will define the legacy of the entire Human race.
Space is not the final frontier,
space is but the first frontier in a universe of boundless possibilities-
that for every answer that we uncover about it
it brings up another ten more questions,
and for every galaxy that we discover
we find more planets orbiting around stars very similar to Earth
and our own sun.
Like most people that I admire,
I was never fortunate enough to actually meet Neil Armstrong;
but that did not impede me from being inspired by him,
it did not stop me from seeing myself in him,
and it has not stopped thousands, millions, of other people
from all around the world to follow in his footsteps-
as astronauts will continue to do so in the future
when they first set foot on Mars,
and they will no longer need to imagine
what it must have felt like to be him.
Neil Armstrong will never be forgotten,
his spirit still lives in the heart of us all,
and one day what he began with his first foot-step on the Moon
will carry humanity beyond our planet to the stars!
Where we will prosper, where we will evolve, and where we will shine!
One day, because of Neil Armstrong, because of our need to better ourselves,
humanity will achieve universal greatness-
because of our legacy, because of our first steps,
because of our giant leaps,
that were taken for us all by great heroes
for all mankind.
Walking on the soft ocean-touched sand of an early-morning beach-
the cold, divine, sensation between my toes, on the souls of my feet,
as I look back at the footprints that I have left behind me
in the twilight sand-
the path that I have made that appears to go on beyond reach.
The sun rises with a silent, and yet spectacular,
celebratory fan-fare of colour and ocean wave choruses-
all overlapping and harmonizing with every passing second;
and then I realize that the moon is still in the sky,
still casting its own light on the sea-
and in an instant of magical serenity
that seems to last forever
both the sun and the moon share the same sky,
as if the king of the day came when the queen of the night beckoned.
The two were far apart,
but they appeared connected by a golden strand of cloud between them-
as if the two were sharing an audience together,
however what they were conveying to each-other
not even dreams could imagine.
I was so in-awe of this perfect moment,
I was so lost in thought at its meaning,
and by what Earths role is in the celestial destiny of the galaxy,
that I didn’t notice that ten feet away from me
I was sharing this moment with someone else-
someone who I had never seen before,
but who, for a second, looked away from the majestic sight
that we were both witnessing to look at me
and to smile the most beautiful smile that I had ever seen at me.
We both watched as the sun seemingly appeared to grow in size
and radiance, as if it were about to explode;
we both held our breath as the moon faded before our eyes,
as if it were saying a brief goodbye
as it returned the reign of the sky to the rightful heir to the throne.
My fellow sky-watcher and I again shared a moment between the two of us,
as we looked into each-others eyes, smiled warmly,
after having shared something so beautiful together-
and I could see in their eyes that we two would never forget this moment,
nor each-other, but that we would never see each-other again.
We shared another silent look,
which transcended all words that could have been said,
and then we kept on walking.
As the sun bathed me in its golden breath,
the warm air and the sea-breeze overwhelmed and invigorated me
and got inside of me-
so much so that I had to close my eyes to savour the feeling;
and then I had this instinct, this need, to open my eyes again
to look behind me to see the friend that I just made;
and although she was gone, I still felt as if I could feel their heart beating.
The moment would never come again; and yet it would,
but for a different reason, and at a different time for me-
I know this to be true, just as I know that beautiful, magical, bliss
can be found at the dawn of morning in that which connects
the air to the sea.
A little boy with his Dad looking up at The Moon through his telescope;
a young man, standing in the darkness, gazing up
at the wonder of the night-sky- filled with awe, touched by inspiration,
possessed by hope.
A little boy turns to his Dad, and asks:
Dad, how does the moon stay up in the sky?
a young man looks up at the glowing orb of the night
and he sees the face of his father in his minds eye.
A little boy looks into the eyes of his Dad, and his Dad replies:
The moon will always be there, son- you may not always see its face,
but the light that it emits will never die.
A young man, bathed in moon light, engulfed in the peace and silence
of a star-filled night,
looks through his telescope at the ancient companion of Earth
that is the satellite of wonder, the moon of white;
a little boy looks through his telescope,
as his Dad puts a hand on his shoulder as he too looks up at the sky-
the little boy continues to look on, as his imagination begins to fly!
A young man looks up at the moon
and at the infinite light-scape that he lives under;
a little boy takes his Dads hand, looking up at his face he asks:
will the moon look any bigger when I’m older, I wonder?
The Life, the Light, the Tears, of the Poet of the Sphere 