Voyage to the Moon

Wanderer in our skies,
dazzle of silver in our leaves on our
waters silver, O
silver evasion in our farthest thought -
"the visiting moon"  "the glimpses of the moon"
and we have found her.

                                      From the first of time,
before the first of time,  before the
first men tasted time, we sought for her.
She was a wonder to us,  unattainable,
a longing past the reach of longing,
a light beyond our lights, our lives - perhaps
a meaning to us-  O a meaning!

Now we have found her in her nest of night.

Three days and three nights we journeyed,
steered by the farthest stars, climbed outward,
crossed the invisible tide-rip where the floating dust,
falls one way or the other in the void between,
followed that other down, encountered
cold, faced death, unfathomable emptiness.

Now, the fourth day evening, we descend,
make fast, set foot at last upon her beaches,
stand in her silence, lift our heads and see
above her, wonderer in her skies
a wonder to us past the reach of wonder,
a light beyond our lights, our lives, the
                                      rising
     earth
           a meaning to us

                                   O, a meaning!

                                               Archibald MacLeish