From the Mountains she came
Backward daughter of the land
She began life without a name
All she touched turning to sand
Found in lowly Kyrgyzstan
Yet never belonging anywhere
Certainly never to any man
Her destiny in the great out there
Thus she grew as did her dreams
To the Moon she knew she must fly
Even if it meant conspiring with Soviet schemes
Or worse if it meant to die
All seemed well on the start of the mission
Then catastrophe as air was lost
And came the call of the mountains of heaven
Officials alone saw the voyages deadly cost
In Tien Shan some claim to see her still
Though some doubt she ever did live
But some know her legend real
And vow never to forgive
Copyright © 2002 by Thomas R.