Oh, Mortal Columbia

This is a poem which I can't figure out how to post on my poetry page!  It is about our lost Space Shuttles, Columbia and Challenger, written right after the Columbia disintergrated on her return to Earth.  I post it today in honor of our last shuttle mission launched today, that of Atlantis.  Hope you like it.

                                Oh, Mortal Columbia

                “All farewells should be sudden, when forever,
                     Else they make an eternity of moments.”
                                            Byron

 Oh, mortal Columbia, 
We stood in sunshine awaiting your astral return,
But downward you came, as a blazing meteor, 
A fallen, streaking Mercury, broken, whose message
Was of sudden despair not inspiring triumph.

We thought of you as Apollo, divine and
Impervious to human flaw.
Humbled, helpless we stood, watching your contrail
Proclaim your frailty that you alone had not forgotten;
Heard, felt, your blasting trumpet blare discordant.

Today, faced now with challenges unknown,
We look heavenward, harking the explorer’s call,
Casting off onto our endeavors necessary, perilous, 
Else all your enterprising strides of discovery 
Shall become as Atlantis, known only as myth.

Oh, mortal Columbia, Gemini now as never before
With your ascending sister descended, Challenger,
With her, oh, mortal Columbia, immortal.  
 
James A. Zarzana