You taught me of the poetry in science,
the chorus within a sea of new stars;
the Pleiades: a nursery of infants,
and the fossil of old oceans, is Mars.

You talked to me just like a human,
through the decades of languor that passed;
you taught me that a stupid question
is better than one never asked.

In your ship I was cast to the Cosmos,
into the faintest ripple of space-time;
to peel back the illusion of politics,
and to see it as but organised crime.

You filled my mind with clear knowledge,
that'll stay through my short lifespan;
more than facts, you gave me a shining example,
of the burgeoning qualities of man.