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The Sky-Lab

Sky-lab, Sky-lab, the air did reverberate,
Rich or poor; young or old; literate or not:
All did discuss, the sky-lab's state,
And the dreadful destiny of mankind's lot.

The world was taut with tension,
Over NASA's debacle at exploration—
And was gripped with apprehension,
Of the faltering sky-lab's disintegration.

Under one great mantle of terror
Rocked the world with mute fear;
It chid America for the unpardonable error,
In the computation of the space-craft's steer.

Panic-stricken, some did flee,
In the fold of their kith and kin to be:
From place to place, from country to country,
People fled, to avoid the falling debris.

From dawn till dusk, to the Lord Almighty,
True offers of reverential prayers,
To save the world from the impending calamity,
Were made to ward off their fears!

But some were stoical and calm,
Undisturbed at the space-craft's tract:
And some were sorry for the harm,
That the world would, one day contract.

The Universe, Sun and Earth, to scan,
The sky-lab was sent aloft in seventy three:
Through many a thousand pictures, did them span,
Till from man, the shackles did it free.

Envisaged, for ten years to whirl around,
The sky-lab through solar panels, energy drew:
Dark- spots, in the Sun, suddenly did abound,
And the lab, beyond plans, it threw!

Towards its plunge did streak the monster,
And the count- down to crash did tick,
While for the lab's watery grave did NASA manoeuvre,
Thudding hearts, to their wireless sets, did stick.

At sixteen twenty two GMT on July Eleventh,
Crashed the sky-lab, raining down a fiery debris
Into the ocean, off Australia, near Perth,
Of life inflicting, not even an injury!

A sigh of relief the world did heave,
And to NASA three cheers did send—
The horrible disaster, when it did retrieve
While finding no funds the lab to mend.

There now has arisen the urgent need,
For signing an international code—
Space-crafts o'er which Nations have control indeed,
Ought only to be projected—as per this episode.

poem by Chandra Thiagarajan
Added by Poetry Lover
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