Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)
You could fly while still growing and green,
could repair any flying machine
**by your twenties, and tested
**new rocket planes, crested
the clouds in your bright X-15.
In due course, you were picked for Apollo
(undreamed of by falcon or swallow)
**to land on the moon,
**and to do it quite soon
so the Commies could no more than follow.
You touched the moon’s hide, took a stride,
spoke of steps and of leaps, then all pride
**disappeared as you turned
**toward your planet and learned
that your thumb is precisely as wide!
(Appeared in The Society of Classical Poets.)
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