The Displaced Astronaut

-The Displaced Astronaut-
by Keaton Foster



Upon the edge
Waiting friends
For a shot at glory
For his chance at infamy
The world will remember
What he is about to do
Breaking the boundaries
Of both space and time
Shattering every reasonable idea
Inciting a mountain of fear
Will he return from the blackness
Will their hero somehow survive
Or will he become a streak across the sky
Plenty of fools have died doing lesser things
Brutally the rocket engines come alive
The countdown has begun to decline
Closer and closer to destiny
Five, four, three, two, one
Gods speed
Whispers across many lips
He hears not one of them
All he hears is the roar
Of the fuel as it burns
Lift off quickly becomes transcendence
Utter mind numbing ascension
The ride seems quite quick
Faster than his training did insist
Escaping his earth bound existence
Goes off without a single hitch
Soon he is heading towards
The nearest inhabitable planet
Soon he is flying through space
Moving slower than light
But increasingly faster than sound
Even at such a blistering speed
It will take months to get there
A place where no other human has been
A place for the history books
His name will in the end
Be upon every page
As the first man to travel
From earth to planet X
He will be known as
The displaced astronaut
Of course it was all his choice
But that matters none
Through space he goes
Towards what, who really knows
Will he ever get there is unclear
Planet X, inhabitable at best
Incompatible at worst
It’s all theory and speculation
Calculations made by men
Often sitting behind desk
Are they without question correct
Only he, the man on his way
Will ultimately come to know
The displaced astronaut
Has begun his journey
His true test and lesson of bravery
Plenty will cheer for his success
Others will wonder what it all means
Few will ever live to see the results
Or benefit from what he alone risked
He is a brave man with something to prove
Hurtling through space, he’ll get his chance…


The Displaced Astronaut
Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2014.