The Crushing Weight of Silence
Bruce McCandless (1937-2017)
First Man To Fly Untethered In Space
Grossly overtrained he said,
not nervous as he rose
out of the shuttle’s cargo bay,
tethered only to jet pack,
eager to fly,
the whole of planet earth
on one side, infinite black void
on the other.
At his farthest point,
he is a small figure,
cold, teeth chattering,
not that peaceful
nervous banter on three radio channels,
stay away from the engines,
when’s my turn?
astronauts engineered to know,
afraid to be afraid,
no language, beautiful,
for the terrifying proximity to god,
the crushing weight
of silence.
