In Memory of 'Intrepid'

by Andriech

For as long as we have followed the stars away from our homes, we have sung songs about our journeys. With no reason to believe we'll stop, this is a 'space shanty'. The title is the subject. Please R&R!

Special thanks to Geoff Kaufman, shantyman extraordinare; and to Rick Spenser, shantyman and genuis who supplied the original music that inspired this song.

In Memory of Intrepid

Another ship is lost from San Francisco's docks:

Scientists this time.

God help the sons and daughters

Of the ones who make their living

Exploring the stars.

From Terra Sol to Vulcan:

From Andoria to Rigel.

On Stardate twenty-two sixty eight,

The cold and unrelenting stars

Took four hundred thirty more spacemen

And their starship, Intrepid.

Somewhere in our galaxy,

Lost in the sweeping starfields:

Something as small as a lifepod

Is almost impossible to find.

Chorus:

--Hard fates of the unknown,

--Cold arms of the stars.

--Bold spirit of the spaceman:

--Cast your lots among the stars.

The stars give us our living,

But take back many men.

And the scientists and explorers

Think of living on the land.

But like our fathers did before us,

And their fathers before them:

We are people of the heavens,

And to the heavens we will return.

Chorus—

When the morning comes to San Francisco,

Our ships will be among the stars.

Some are leaving, some returning

With the discoveries from space.

And on the mind of everyone,

But not a word is spoken:

Is who will be the next to go

To space and not return?

Chorus—

Chorus—