[Verse 1: AMS]

In the beginning, sacred 9 circle in heavenly reverence/
Civilized apes with motor skills, adjusting to their elements/
Billion years of evolution, this planet isn't enough/
Innovation as side-effect of war, horse power to rocket thrust/
Theory and blackboards erased, conquer fears and expand/
Treaties and tardy planning, water science down for understanding/
We ogled God's canvas, with our hourglass sifting/
And spent arrogant years to find the conquest we were missing/
In a flurry of math and training, I was born/
Of the hype of integrals and satellites, blueprints praised and scorned/
A mass of imaginary numbers, PHD degrees and blunders/
If's, Maybe's, and I Wonder's, all of which gravity encumbered/
Graduated top of class, with goals of escape velocity/
Scrap social life for climbing ranks, to sate my curiosity/
I wear my standards proud, press statements in check/
Sponsored by politicians and policy, patriotism and flight tests/
Barely the person my parents remember from home/
Heavy accolades overshadow the back-in-the-day, as the now stands alone/
Mission named in optimism by a process I'm not involved in/
Expecting my trust with test crafts that I test all too often/
Blast clear to stratosphere with the press people gawking/
Smooth landing under stress, then autograph hawking/
Every meter worth of data matters, personal meaning shattered/
Heed the logic and reason in g-force breezes, can't breathe easy after/
Trying to inject focus in a roundtable of blurred vision/
The subterfuge of ballistics, and roadblocks that deserve hittin'/
Strike anywhere but the gentle topics present/
Know your place and stay there, never knowing what you're representing/
The fateful day arrives, covert nationalism/
Space-age bureaucracy broadcast for millions who believe it's pacifism/
And there I sat, securely strapped, reflections far from crystal clear/
As science took my breath away, pushing me beyond the stratosphere/
(I'M GONE)//