Ballad to a Spaceman

Born in the belly of a rocket ship, as from Terra it did fly
His first cries drowned by the engines' roar, in no cradle did he lie
He'd hit Santara by the time he was four, Gal-Haydn when he was nine
Born as a spaceman in a spaceman's bed, and as a spaceman he would die

He learned every course that a ship could take, found a few more on the side
He learned new tricks every stop they'd make; with the engines he did ride
A spacer's pride was his swagger-stick, and his pride knew that it could survive
He lived as a spaceman from the day he was born, and as a spaceman he would die

They headed for Diversa in his trading years, when he'd just turned thirty-four
The captain planned on a mighty pay, after running a load of ore
The engine room gave him all they had, but the captain ordered more
They pumped 'em up to their hottest gain just to hear the rockets roar

Five hundred miles above the planet's ground, the engines died away
The captain called, "We need power now or we'll all die today!"
The spaceman said, "All the boys are dead and I'm not far behind
We've pulled much more than she's meant to take, and the baffles have blown wide."

The captain said, "Well, do something man," and the spaceman smiled wide
"Except hold the plates down with my bare hands, we can't do nothing but enjoy the ride."
But the ground flew up with destructive speed, and the spaceman knew his mind
He couldn't sit in the engine room and wait for his friends to die

So he turned and he put his hand inside, where the engines used to glow
He found the plates and he held them fast, 'cause to quit's no way to go
And the rocket shook with a mighty roar, and the engines they did cry
And the spaceman smiled in the engine's glow, for as a spaceman he would die

They found the boys in the engine room; by their stations they did lie
The spaceman with his hands on a baffle plate was still sitting where he'd died
They took them out, gave them to the stars; not a single spaceman cried
For spacemen in the stars do live, and in the stars they long to die

The spaceman's life for his men did give, and the stars would let him lie
He lived as a spaceman from the day he was born, and as a spaceman he did die