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.