In memory of the Columbia and her crew…

Notes

  From the short story "Ordeal in Space", collected in "The Past Through
    Tomorrow"
  Intended as an additional verse to the Navy Hymn ("Eternal Father, Strong
    to Save")

As Heinlein fans are doubtless aware, his work includes several examples of verse by fictional poets. “The Green Hills of Earth” [Poem #241] is undoubtedly the best known, but today’s poem runs it a close second (helped, no doubt, by the popularity of the Navy Hymn).

I was moved to think of this (and of several other poems and songs) today, and to reflect that, no matter how much one reads about the dangers and perils of spaceflight, it never really strikes home until something like this happens. It is far easier to believe in “those in peril on the sea” - the seventeen years since Challenger have made astronauts safely invulnerable in the public consciousness. No more.

Requiesat in Pacem.

Links

There is, unsurprisingly, a lot of filk appropriate to the occasion. I considered running some, but hesitated to separate the words from the music - go listen instead. I recommend “Fire in the Sky” and “Hope Eyrie” from the Virtual Filksing

http://www.prometheus-music.com/eli/virtual.html

  A few minstrels links:
   Poem #276: High Flight
   Poem #609: Winged Man

 The original Navy Hymn:
   [broken link] http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/eternal.html
 There are also several additional verses; astonishingly, the Heinlen one is
 not among them.

PostScript: I am also reminded of the Poul Anderson novel “We Have Fed our Seas”, which was titled after one of Kipling’s poems; I was actually planning on running that one, but unfortunately could not find the poem. If you have a copy, please write in.

— Martin