Images of earth

The sky is clear over the Sahara Desert
It seems I am leaving the planet forever

The bond between Earth and its inhabitants
must be defended like a holy relic

I used to have dreams when I was a kid
Like an infant in the womb of my spacecraft

The night before you went up – did you sleep?
the rustle of my muscles moving over each other

The Earth was absolutely round
I could hear the sound of pipes whining below me

moving further and further away from the ship
and you are yourself a satellite

Only in my soul is there something unquiet
Enhancing our pleasure in these shapes

Then, of course, the realisation hit me
I waved to her, she didn’t see me



From The Home Planet (Images and Reflections of Earth from Space Explorers), (Macdonald Queen Anne Press, 1988), ed. Kevin W.Kelley. The lines come from the translated comments of different astronauts that accompany the photographs from space. Submitted by Winston Plowes.