I float in space, the sun lies at my right:
Life giver, Helios, eternal fire.
To left, space station, strong with steel and wire,
A haven: private hell, with home in sight:
Below me falls the Earth, her oceans bright
And blue, her green and golden plains do tire,
They strain to push the snow-shod mountains higher,
Then hide behind her clouds forever white.

    "Good-bye, fair mother Earth," I cry, "Good-bye.”
Then turn about, to see another place :
The moon calls to me, soon to be my home.
Your hold is gone, fair Earth, for there I'll die;
My bones shall gaze forever at your face,
They'll watch the universe men soon shall roam.


                                      1976