COTI News: Loren Wiseman has passed away.

[Whipsnade]

Every year the world gets little colder, a little darker, a little smaller...


I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone."

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...


Fare thee well, Mr. Wiseman, fare thee well.

[Jame]

I only met him online but liked him. Now I cant meet him again.

[Jame]

Whipsnade, thats a great poem for a good man.

[atpollard]

Originally Posted by John Donne

“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Our prayers of comfort and support for Loren's family.

threads merged into one

[GM Joe]

My condolences to his family and friends.

Although I never met him, I knew him as a gifted writer and game designer. The things he created brought happiness to my life, and to the lives of countless others. May he rest in peace.

[Condottiere]

My condolences to his family and friends.

[castlebravo]

Sad news. His contributions are very much appreciated.

Please let his family know how many of us from around the world have been positively impacted by his work.

[Nightwind1]

The Green Hills of Earth

Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet
Of the cool, green hills of Earth.

We rot in the moulds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.

We've tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.

The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
ALL HANDS! STAND BY! FREE FALLING!
And the lights below us fade.

Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps a race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet ---

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
--Robert A Heinlein

[Nightwind1]

GODDARD PASSAGE



Tune © by Stan Rogers
Lyrics © by Wm. Mark Simmons





Ah, for one last flight I would take the Goddard Passage

To rise on flames of freedom past the Moon and on toward Mars

Leaving far behind Terra’s past, so dark and savage

And take the Goddard Passage to the Stars



I think on Allan Shepherd in those fabled days of yore

The first American to go where “no man had gone before”

He rode the mighty Redstone and did race with gravity

To launch the project Men called Mercury



Ah, for one last flight I would take the Goddard Passage

To rise on flames of freedom past the Moon and on toward Mars

Leaving far behind Terra’s past, so dark and savage

And take the Goddard Passage to the Stars



I think on Virgil Grissom and his final sacrifice

How he rode the second capsule and then flew the Gemini

But still the moon did beckon and did lead him with desire

But Apollo One became his funeral pyre



Ah, for one last flight I would take the Goddard Passage

To rise on flames of freedom past the Moon and on toward Mars

Leaving far behind Terra’s past, so dark and savage

And take the Goddard Passage to the Stars



I think on John Glenn’s orbits and those first walks out in space

Of those who pushed the boundaries for all the human race

And then The Eagle landed and the whole wide world did see

Footsteps on the sea Men call Tranquility



Ah, for one last flight I would take the Goddard Passage

To rise on flames of freedom past the Moon and on toward Mars

Leaving far behind Terra’s past, so dark and savage

And take the Goddard Passage to the Stars



I think on how we almost took our eyes off of the prize

When Challenger and Columbia were fires in the skies

But still the stars do beckon; we must conquer all our fears

Each new frontier takes its toll in lives and tears



Ah, for one last flight I would take the Goddard Passage

To rise on flames of freedom past the Moon and on toward Mars

Leaving far behind Terra’s past, so dark and savage

And take the Goddard Passage to the Stars

[Reban]

Another Hero for The Wall.

RIP