In the hush of Moscow’s winter breath,
A stray was plucked from cobblestone,
To brave the cold and face her death
In a metal shell, and all alone.
Laika, small and silver-bound,
A pioneer on a one-way flight,
Left the safety of the ground
To carve a path through endless night.
Four years passed—the silence broke,
With fire and thunder, Vostok rose.
A simple word the pilot spoke:
"Poyekhali!", then off he goes.
Yuri, with the steady hand,
The first to see the marble blue,
To look upon his motherland
From heights that no one ever knew.
He wore the wreath of global fame,
The hero of a soaring age,
Yet softly spoke the quiet name
Of her who turned the earlier page.
"I am," he mused with humble grace,
"The first man, or the dog who stayed?"
A debt he felt in outer space,
For the sacrifice a creature made.
Though his wings would fail in later years,
And steel would fall from Russian skies,
He lives beyond our mortal fears,
Where the silver orbit lies.
A man who loved the loyal hound,
Two spirits joined in cosmic light—
No longer to the shadows bound,
But masters of the eternal night.
Kalikiano's ACADEMIA.EDU website
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Laika well-deserved FULL credit for her tragic accomplishment. Apparently you didn't read the comments carefully made at the beginning of this poem in which this distinction should have been crystal clear. Haste makes waste, my cavil friend. As for 'Miss Baker's' 15 minute, suborbital flight: she flew in 1959...full two years after Laika's orbital mission.
I fail to understand why you always feel compelled to quibble so and nitpick after the fact, Ron. Relax and stay cool; try to remain in context. Ukraine's woes and the current American effort to return to the moon are largely irrelevant in this specific context, which is SOLELY to commemorate the courageous achievements of Laika and Gagarin.
On second thought, why do I even waste my time saying all this to a chronic naysayer like yourself?! Good grief!
I just checked. A Rhesus monkey, Albert II, was launched into space in 1948, but died upon a parachute failure returning to earth. When I visited Huntsville in 1977 I was fortunate to see Miss Baker, a Squirrel monkey. Alive and well…she lived 25 years after being launched and returned from space.
Ron
But masters of the eternal night. "
Great tribute to Laika an Yuri Gagarin to commemorate the International Day of Human Space Flight on April 12. Well done. Gagarin was born in 1934, the Year of the Dog in Chinese astrology.