Prince of darkness, sign of terror,
Armageddon in our eyes
Giant cloud of ice and boulders
Grimly falling from our skies.
Soon, collision with our planet
Will destroy our atmosphere
And the silent, lifeless surface,
-Testimony to our fear.
Little time is left to ready
Very few of us will leave
Taking with them little children
Hearts reluctant, hearts that grieve.
Please remember, in your journey,
Those of us you left behind
We constructed your salvation
Let your memories treat us kind.
Painful truth, not all could go,
The doomed soon realized
We sent our youngest, sent our best
To search and colonize.
In generations down the line
The children will forget
That we ever lived and perished
You must spare them their regret.
Many worlds are torn asunder
Many worlds are born, and die
Supernovae, eating planets
Cataclysms from the sky.
In this universe of planets
Few does fortune find to spare
We were lucky evolution
Gave us season to prepare.
Leave us now, and don’t look back
Your future’s in the stars
By keeping vigil, straight ahead
Time will heal the scars.
Now your home is far behind you
Through the spiral arms you sail
The last, surviving, generation
God, don’t let your mission fail.
Seven men and seven women
None of them quite seventeen
Caring for a ship of children
Caring for their parent’s dream.
Many years pass on the journey
Scanning worlds that look inviting
Sensors show one in the region
And the promise is exciting.
There it is now, straight ahead!
Blue and cloudy, that’s the one!
We will call our new world "Terra"
Our third planet from the sun.