Heroes by Terry Allen
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| Image | Space dogs Veterok and Ugolyok |
Heroes
He was 5’2” and a giant of his time.
Yuri was the first man to go into space,
for a flight in 1961 that lasted
108 minutes as he circled
the Earth once, thinking of God
and perhaps a stray dog
from the streets of Moscow,
who was the first animal to orbit
the Earth eleven years earlier.
We don’t know his thoughts
about this Soviet mutt who overheated
and died in flight, but we do know
that Yuri Gagarin once said:
An astronaut cannot be suspended
in space and not have God on his mind
and in his heart.
© Terry Allen
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| Terry Allen |
Terry Allen is an Emeritus Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he taught acting, directing and playwriting. He is the author of five poetry collections: Monsters in the Rain, Art Work, Waiting on the Last Train, Rubber Time, and Preserving the Past for the Present.
It is hard not to have God in mind when faced with the miracle of the universe.
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