There will be no

Disney happy ending
for the children
of the Great Rift Valley.
They didn't get to be the
landlords by handing out
free lemonade and cookies.
(And God knows, old habits
die damned hard.)
I know too much to believe
that a crew like us
could ever set out for the
Great Shining Horizon
and do anything except
fall on our faces in ways
that would inspire
awe and wonder
in the minds of anyone lucky enough
to have not lived through the attempt.
I would settle
for a final evaluation
that read,
"pretty good",
"not bad",
"a hell of a lot better than it
used to be",
"OK",
"all right",
or
"it'll do."
I stopped looking
for that island
the decapitated Chancellor
wrote about
a long time ago.