Silent Key

On the 28th of January 1986 Christa McAuliffe
Gazed in horror as the O-rings failed,
And she died, and she died, and she died.
For the next agonising two minutes and forty-five long seconds
She called out the truth on a broken radio:
“I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive”.
It came as some surprise to realise that
As she lost everything
The world was revealed in a transmission so real
That she understood everything:
You're still alive.
Four thousand nautical miles as the crow flies away
A home-made ham radio in the loft of a Hampshire family home
Came alive, came alive, came alive.
And so the four year old amateur operator thus became
The only person to hear Christa’s last desperate communique:
“We’re alive, we're alive, we’re alive”.
It came as some surprise to realise
While he didn’t catch everything,
The world was revealed in a transmission so real
That he understood everything:
You're still alive.
And Christa said:
“The darkness up above
Led me on like unrequited love,
While all the things I need
Were down here in the deep blue sea.”
At four years old I heard the truth on my radio,
So now I keep a moment's silence for my Silent Key.