Dana Gioia, the new head of the NEA, asked a long while ago whether poetry mattered.

It's mattering at the moment.

A long while ago, in the filksinging room of a science fiction convention ( filk = modern folksongs on sf and fantasy themes) I heard a song called "Fire in the Sky," about spaceflight. A year or so later, the Challenger disaster happened and a new verse was added, the song becoming both dirge and anthem, sung many times in the following years.

This morning, part of it was read by Buzz Aldrin, as poetry, before breaking off into tears.

The author, Dr. Jordin Kare, has asked if anyone has video or audio footage of this, please contact him.

Here's the song. I expect there'll be a new verse soon:

Fire in the Sky

Music and lyrics by Jordin Kare
Bridge by Kristoph Klover

Prometheus, they say, brought God's fire down to man
And we've caught it, tamed it, trained it since our history began.
Now we're goin' back to Heaven, just to look him in the eye:
There's a thunder 'cross the land
And a fire in the sky!

Gagarin was the first, back in 1961
When, like Icarus undaunted, he climbed to reach the Sun,
And he knew he might not make it, for it's never hard to die:
But he lifted off the pad
And rode a fire in the sky!

Yet a higher goal was calling and we vowed to reach it soon
And we gave ourselves a decade to put fire on the Moon
And Apollo told the world we can do it if we try:
There was "One small step..."
And a fire in the sky!

(Bridge)
I dreamed last night
Of a little boy's first space flight,
Burned into me,
Watching the black and white TV:
There was a fire in the sky!
I'll remember 'til I die:
A fire in the sky--
A fire in the sky!

Then two decades from Gagarin, twenty years to the day
Came a shuttle named "Columbia", to open up the way
And they said "She's just a truck," but she's a truck that's aimin' high!
See her big jets burnin',
See her fire in the sky!

Yet the gods do not give lightly of the powers they have made,
And with Challenger and seven, once again the price is paid
Though a nation watched her falling, yet a world could only cry,
As they passed from us to glory,
Riding fire in the sky!

Now the rest is up to us, and there's a future to be won:
We must turn our faces outward, we will do what must be done:
For no cradle lasts forever; every bird must learn to fly:
And we're goin' to the stars--
See our fire in the sky!

(Reprise)
Yes, we're goin' to the stars--
See our fire in the sky!
I'll remember 'til I die:
A fire in the sky--
A fire in the sky!


An MP3 version of the song may be downloaded here: