by Joseph T. Page II
Translucent was his past, tabula rasa in a poverty-stricken burg of Chicago.
White were the keys on his piano, playing Rachmaninoff.
Red was the existential threat, a hammer and sickle from the East.
Blue was his uniform, and the color outlining his office in the skies above.
Orange was his motivation, prevention of the other-worldly glow of an atomic fireball.
Green was the glow from radioactive Tritium, studied for his doctoral thesis.
Cyan was representative of a brief stop in the Southwest.
Gray was his reception into the world of Star Sailors.
Black was his future, the wallpapering of his new office, and its sublime celestial mission.
Brown was the place of his death, a strip of Earth venerated and consecrated by “magnificent men and their flying machines.”
Crystal were the tears of his widow and child during a somber Chicago day.
Gold is his legacy, for his brothers and countrymen.
Major Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. was the first Black American astronaut, selected for the secretive Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in 1967. He was killed during a training accident in December 1968, leaving behind a widow and son.
Leonardo Magazine 