Worlds grow old and suns grow cold And death we never can doubt. Time’s cold wind, wailing down the past, Reminds us that all flesh is grass And history’s lamps blow out.
(chorus) But the Eagle has landed; tell your children when. Time won’t drive us down to dust again.
Cycles turn while the far stars burn, And people and planets age. Life’s crown passes to younger lands, Time sweeps the dust of hope from her hands And turns another page.
But we who feel the weight of the wheel When winter falls over our world, Can hope for tomorrow and raise our eyes To a silver moon in the opened skies And a single flag unfurled.
We know well what Life can tell: If you will not perish, then grow! And today our fragile flesh and steel Have laid our hands on a vaster wheel, With all of the stars to know.
From all who tried out of history’s tide, A salute for the team that won. And the old Earth smiles at her children’s reach, The wave that carried us up the beach To reach for the shining sun.