I’ve seen a greater share of wonders, vast

And small, than most have done. My peace is made; My breathing slows. I could not ask for more.

To reach beyond the stuff of day-to-day

Is worth this life of mine. Our kind is meant To search and seek among the outer bounds, And when we land upon a distant shore,

To seek another yet farther still. Enough.

The silence grows. My strength has fled, and Sol Become a faded gleam, and now I wait,

A Viking laid to rest atop his ship.

Though fire won’t send me off, but cold and ice, And forever shall I drift alone.

No king of old had such a stately bier, Adorned with metals dark and grey, nor such A hoard of gems to grace his somber tomb.

I check my straps; I cross my arms, prepare Myself to once again venture into the Unknown, content to face my end and pass Beyond this mortal realm, content to hold And wait and here to sleep—

To sleep in a sea of stars.