Forty Years Ago/ A Man Took A Small Step For Mankind
July 20 2009 FORTY YEARS AGO/ A MAN TOOK A SMALL STEP FOR MANKIND
Forty years ago
A man took a small step for mankind
On the ground
Like so many others
I wondered
What it meant for me.
The moon is still there
The stars still distant and unkind
An unmanned messenger of ours
Has touched down on Mars
The Universe waits for us
And no one has come calling yet.
My life has been pretty much lived
A quiet distance a small interval
Calling out to God.
But how we will go on
And what will become of us
And what we will be
reshaped to be
Here or there-
I will never know.
The generations to come
And the questions
No one can answer yet.
God here
And in the Distance.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Related quotes
One Small Step
So many people
Need to go so many miles
How do we move them
To where the answer lies
Reach out to the ocean
Beyond the stars that shine
Weve got to take one small step in time
If we are the dreamers
Then the world must be the dream
Driven to question
All the things weve never seen
We search the horizon
Looking for a sign
Weve got to take one small step in time
One step beyond
All our hopes and our passion
There is the light of the universe flashin
All that it takes is one leap of faith
One small step, (one small step)
One small step in time
Deep in the darkness
(deep in the blackness)
Theres a wind that never dies
(theres a wind that never dies)
Out in the vastness
(out in the vastness)
Theres a road across the sky
(a road across the sky)
Out there is the reason
That we were meant to find
Weve got to take one small step in time
Weve got to take one small step in time
(one small step, one small step)
One small step in time
(one small step, one small step)
One small step in time
(one small step, one small step)
song performed by by Cher
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Man's Curiosity Lands on Mars!
Of all the many galaxies,
The Maker chose just planet earth,
The third from sun in Milky Way,
For man to inhabit and thrive!
But man's curiosity didn't stop
By landing upon moon's surface!
One small step of Neil Armstrong meant
A giant leap for mankind's science!
Mars Rover Curiosity
Has touched down upon mars surface,
A feat of engineering skills -
A culmination of efforts!
But why search planets for new life?
Home earth has secrets much concealed;
Why waste money and time so far?
Cannot you develop life on earth?
Though curiosity of man
Is good for scientific research,
All know that earth is best for man,
And yet, they hunt for newer ground!
Kudos to scientists' great efforts!
Man's brain is doing things grandiose;
If only money's spent on earth,
All mankind can live happily!
Mere mankind's pow'rs can't move mountains!
The Omnipotent need to bless;
Man's achievements then bear witness
To Maker's awesome power and love!
Dedicated to all the scientists world-wide!
Copyright by Dr John Celes 8-8-12
poem by John Celes
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The Moon Remembers the Astronauts
Neil Armstrong arrived first,
Landing the lunar module of Apollo 11
At the Sea of Tranquility
On July 19,1969.
“That’s one small step for man,
One giant leap for mankind”,
He said,
And Edwin Aldrin stood next to him.
Later others came.
In all a dozen men walked on the moon
Perturbing her pristine lot with rhythmic dockings.
Conrad, Bean and Mitchell,
Scott, Irwin, Young and Duke were there,
Strolling in moon dust, before Schmitt and Cernan
From the crew of Apollo 17
Touched down in the Taurus-Littrow valley
On a December day of 1972.
But since then human foot did not step on the moon
And she stares at the frail blue sphere of her neighbor
With the abandoned hills of Hadley Apennines
And a quiet Ocean of Storms.
She orbits the Earth with desolate lunar craters;
A convivial loner, shining unfrequented,
Her arcane face keeps waxing and waning;
And although forlorn, reclusive and remote,
In her silent yellow solitude
The Moon remembers the astronauts.
poem by Paul Hartal
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She was in the profession
She stopped her work at her lawn when she saw me
and leaned over the fence and we talked for over two hours
with my elbow on her posts and my feet resting
against the palings.
She had worked forty years in the same profession
and had seen generations through the doors. She
had enjoyed her work and people still call her to
tell her about themselves; they express their gratitude
and how much of a difference she had made.
She walked down the fence, waved her arms
and returned to the corner where I stood.
But what was work for?
she asked.
Forty years doing what was good for others
but nothing that was good for myself.
What was work for? she sighed.
What were forty years for? It destroyed me.
(from The Migrant - notes of a newcomer (February 1997- July 1998))
poem by Raj Arumugam
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My Poems Came Back To Me / As Rhythms Without Sounds
My poems came back to me
as rhythms without sounds
Imitations of anothers music
Falling down and down
Like winter snow
To whitening ground-
My poems came back to me
As distant whispers of other destinies
Flights from deeper spaces
Mankind has not yet surmised
They were somewhere in the distance of distance
Beyond all distance
In the mystical language
Only Wisdom heard
Though it had no words of its own-
Only ‘now’ and ‘more’ and ‘dreams of another century’
And I, I with all these confusing words
Wondering if my friend would ever be sane again
And why God does it this way
While I in my writing play and play again
Bringing my own rhythms back
And making poetry my own small happy game
Which I write and I write
Without memory.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Where Is The Poem Of Penitence?
Where is the poem of Penitence
For the New Year?
While the majority of nations
Are vilifying and slandering Israel
While many working to destroy us
I write small poems about my own small pains -
I do not devote myself
To telling the truth of our life here
It may not be paradise
But among the nations and the armies
Israel certainly among the most decent
And in seeking Peace too more eager than most -
I who have lived here nearly forty years
Have not helped others see us as we are –
And in my writing have not been good enough.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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I Walked Last Night In A District I Lived In For Almost Twenty Years
I WALKED LAST NIGHT IN A DISTRICT I LIVED IN FOR ALMOST TWENTY YEARS
I walked last night in a district I lived in for almost twenty years
I came back after being away for a time
To visit an old and ailing friend
The streets were empty and lonely as they often were then-
I thought for the first time I understood how lonely the district itself is-
‘A lonely district’
I wondered how I managed to live there all those years
And how anyone still manages to live there-
I looked up at the sky and wrote in my mind a small poem of a kind I wrote many of in my years there
I remembered teachers and friends who had lived there
No longer of this district or any district on earth
I wondered how life goes and how from so many years so much life has been lived without having any place in my memory
I felt as empty inside as the district without
I did not have to wait long for the bus
And relieved inside it I put my heart to home
So many years had been lived there
I remembered taking my small children to the playground there
Now they thank G-d have children of their own
Oh the years go by and the life we have lived in them largely dies
Forever to be unknown again-
I put my heart and mind in a different direction
And began to do what I always do – not think of the district again
Life is this mystery and question we live through and never wholly possess even as we are experiencing it
How long before all will be gone for me
Including the district I live in now?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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I Am Only One Small Name In A Universe
I AM ONLY ONE SMALL NAME IN A UNIVERSE
I am only one small name in a universe,
Of billions of names-
I am only one small bodily being
Where there are billions of billions-
I am a beginning and an end,
As all living things-
A speck in vast spaces whose specks are uncountable-
No one or nothing need save me
No one or nothing need remember me
No one or nothing billions of years hence
Need smile because I was here.
I am so small I need never to have existed-
I am not even here now,
Whoever is writing this
Lost me a long time ago.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
quote by Neil Armstrong
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
quote by Neil Armstrong (20 July 1969)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fifty Eight Years
fifty eight years,
step after step...
pathways of stone,
of water, of wind...
no footprints behind.
small fires on dark nights,
waves of stillness opening...
the eyes of the breathing surround.
touch! touch!
echoing against the roar.
words sealed on paper
for future fires!
when scars become gifts
left on strangers' doorsteps...
for there are no strangers,
soul unto soul.
step after step,
rain falling softly.
smoke from the chimney,
hangs like a prayer.
face to face,
lips touching lips,
a small bag of dreams
left under a child's pillow.
fifty eight years.
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Those Times Of Nothing To Do
THOSE TIMES OF HAVING NOTHING TO DO
Those times of having nothing to do
Those times of one’s own meaninglessness
Those times when Time itself – an unending stretch of emptiness
Those times when one must somehow find the way
To dare one small step
Another small step
Step after step
Out the door
In order to be shocked by a whole other world
In which the burden of what one is and is not
Is if only for some moments
Not at the center
Of one’s consciousness.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Anniversary Of Our Love
Forty years of bliss and non bliss how do
you ever try to marinate all the non harmony
moments, to tenderize its foundation
By standing by each other and always knowing
irreguradless of how hard the situation may be for
the other, the tomorrows of our souls will mend
the broken rainbow and make our days shine
once more
Waiting each night for your return, to say how
was your day, is only a small part of my love
and how we managed to withold all the raging
seas and weather them to an island of tranquility
Thank you for the most wonderfull forty years of
my life, without you, my soul would not be in existance
Happy Anniversary and know, I would do it all, all over
again........
To Tom, on our anniversary of our love.......
poem by Bonnie Collins
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Neil Armstrong-The Astronaut
Wright brothers first started the race,
Then was launched the Sputnik in space.
Twelve years later in the year 1969,
Man set foot on the distant moon—so fine.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong in space craft
Apollo-11 with co-pilot Edwin E.Aldrin were aloft
In space, and victoriously landed on the moon,
Steering their lunar landing craft ‘Eagle', soon.
On the moon near the ‘Sea of Tranquility'
They printed their foot-steps for eternity.
The first person was Neil Armstrong,
To step on moon, and his words, us throng—
"That's one small step for(a) man—
One giant leap for mankind."
His simple sentence was a corrasion,
Above the Earth's national divisions and dissensions
For more than two hours was the moon-walk mirth,
Where the gravity is one sixth that of the Earth.
This Apollo—11 mission successfully made,
Capped a disarrayed and consequential decade.
Back home, Neil Armstrong was in his business,
And in his academia he found good success.
He was remarkable in his vocation,
And who with lot of proud served the nation.
We are now very heart-broken to hear,
That at eighty two he is no more here.
poem by Chandra Thiagarajan
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In The City
Mornings when I wake too early
Theres a dead light in the room
Rain is falling through
The dark and the moon
The waking hour appears pretty soon
Everyone is sleeping though
I lie in a curtained room
Somewhere in a city
Holding so many names
Somehow in the distance
Ive gone to ground
Somewhere in a city
Somewhere between the crowd
Somehow in the distance
Ive gone to ground
Only the shadow remains
Only the shadow of doubt
Three years of memories
Memories without a sight
The end of another year
How will I survive ?
How suddenly fear begins
In a bedroom on the floor
Somewhere in a city
Holding so many names
Somewhere in the crowd
Somewhere in the distance
Somewhere in a city
Holding so many names
Somehow in a city
Ive gone to ground
The light breaks slowly forward
Across my bedroom wall
Until it defines me somehow
In shadow of doubt
It finds my fugitive life
Its blurred, blurred with dust
Only heaven collides
When I look above
Somewhere in a city
Holding so many names
Somehow in the distance
Ive gone to ground
Somewhere in a city
Somewhere between the crowd
Somehow in the distance
Ive gone to ground
Somewhere in a city
Somewhere between the crowd
Somehow in the distance
Ive gone to ground
song performed by by Xymox
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The World Is Vast
THE WORLD IS SO VAST
The world is so vast-
There are so many things and people in it -
We know there are more stars than people,
And so many times more people than we will ever know-
We know a small part of everything there is
And even that changes
And we know less and more with the years -
What we are is a surprise sometimes
But even then we cannot understand it-
How great God has made the universe or perhaps all the universes
We cannot know –
From our small time in our own small time
Let us love life as best we can
And live as well as we can,
Before our little time in the vastness of time passes
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Is There Life on Mars?
Up Up Up and Up into outer space
one giant leap for man and the human race,
blasting up towards that heavenly place
did you see aliens or angels face to face?
What's it like to walk on the Moon
do you think there's life on Mars or Neptune?
is time in space really fast or very slow
answers to questions wed all like to know.
When your so high amongst the stars in the sky
are you in awe, do you wonder, do you ask why?
they say you can feel the presence of God
when floating about in your space capsule pod.
From tiny Pluto to the red planet of Mars
Comets, Black Holes, and Shooting Stars,
mysteries and wonders so far away
where twenty four hours don't make up a day.
But after all of these years what do we find?
that there's no other life to worry mankind
but rockets still ascend up so high
leaving us earthlings to ask the question why?
poem by Kevin Halls
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Framing The Sun
with your hands
you frame the sun
you stare at it
you know what
happens next
too much light
too small a grasp
too much sun
too small a mind
do you remember
how the balloon
burst? i shiver
to the sound of
your explosion
there are shatters
of memories
left on the ground
but not calling for help
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Long Distance
Spent last winter playing in the sand
With the prisoners of the motherland
Damn hotel is feeling like a cell
And even paradise can be so cruel
Sitting by the swimming pool
Trying to keep my head together
In that hot australia weather
Three days to kill and my per diems getting low
cause I spent all my money calling long distance
Calling long distance, such a long way from home
Am I talking to long distance, can you put me through?
Twelve thousand miles but Ive got not resistance,
Long distance, long distance, long distance, long distance
Now the road hogs face is turning red
Larrys still asleep in bed
Romeo he cant get no head at all
And the doctor looks on so annoyed
You disappoint me, mr. boyd
And the electric dwarf wishes he was six foot tall
Now romeos patience is wearing thin
Cmon baby, let me in
Its five a.m. and Ive been creeping round the hall
Got no resistance calling long distance
You sound so close but your such a long way from home
Am I talking to long distance, can you put me through?
Twelve thousand miles but Ive got not resistance,
Long distance, long distance, long distance, long distance
Still no points for my merrymen,
Except ricard, he just scored ten
Now road hogs getting drunk again
And I only get to hold my pen
Instead of what I love to hold the most.
I feel so lonesome I could cry
Count the hours as they roll by
Its day time now
I think Ill make a call
Hello long distance, calling long distance
You sound so close but youre such a long way from home
Youre such a long way from home
Have to admit I got no resistance to the red light on the wall
The message said I got a call,
Long distance, long distance, long distance, long distance
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Under The Bridge
He walks through dark woods in quiet of night,
As bats and barn owls launch into flight
Crickets and frogs beginning to prattle,
Swarming mosquito’s prepare for battle
Night sounds humming a haunting refrain,
Clouds above darken, begins a soft rain
He zips up his jacket, turns up torn collar,
Curses Goodwill jacket that cost but a dollar
A trickle of water runs down his bare neck,
Shuddering, chilled…'My life’s such a wreck'
No money, prospects, no one that cares,
Walks unfriendly streets, ignoring cold stares
How long has it been since he left home, fled?
10 years have gone by without a real bed
Raging Step-Father hurt him in more ways than one,
Treated more like a dog than respected Step-Son
“Some day he'll answer for sins against me, ”
“Excuses won’t help, there will be no place to flee'
Shuddering again, he treads toward the bridge,
A short distance ahead just over a ridge
At long last he’s made it to safety again,
“My shelter, my haven, my best friend”
He gathers dry kindling, gropes for a match,
Patiently waits for a small flame to catch
Campfire roaring, wet clothes will soon dry,
Twists off wine screw-top, it’s time to get high
ROTMS
poem by Ray Lucero
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