John told me he wrote this as Constellation was being towed to the breakers.

What You’ve Made Of Me

By John Petersen

“I’ll be moving soon, the day they say is near

Has been a long time, yet I have no fear.

I’ve known for quite a spell this day would come,

this day that I would break ties and head for the Sun.

Many years I’ve rested, a rest needed yet not desired you see,

for I just want to continue to serve, to keep my country free.

I’ve sat here so quiet, within my hull silence echoes with no end,

no screaming turbines, no catapult offered for a jet to send.

No orders from the bridge to get that headwind right,

no Tomcats to send into an unknown fight.

Nothing more than memories of the sights, aroma, and sounds, I know,

are all I have now to take with me as the darkness begins to grow.

I have been home to countless thousands in all my years of devotion,

my walls of steel providing them all the security needed,

that that those thousands gave for my country to keep me in motion.

As my lines are cut for the very last time I ask of those who’ve set foot upon me,

do not grieve my demise, yet celebrate “what you’ve made of me”.