In Memory of Gene Roddenberry

These are the voyages
Of Pan Am Flight 121
Over the Syrian sands
In the wee morning hours in June.

Captain Kirk dies in the landing.
The airplane doesn’t make Istanbul.
“ I’m coming over the desert,”
says the creator of Star Trek.

He doesn’t care he has broken ribs
He is one of 3 breathing amid 15 bodies.
“Call me done,” he begs his secretary after
Syrian Army rescue gives him water and a phone.

“I want to write a love story
About being alive.”

Author’s Note: This poem is based on the real life story of Pan Am Flight 121, and of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek and a survivor of that crash. I took poetic liberties with the name of 121’s captain who died in the crash- it was not Kirk; but real life sometimes inspires fiction.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_121