23

Not till that day when flight

no longer for its own sake

climbs into the silent skies

propelled by sheer bravura,

so that in shining profiles,

as the tool that triumphed,

it can play the wind’s favorite,

slender, sure, agile,—

not till a pure “out there”

dispels boyish pride

in the power of instruments,

will one breathless from winning

and closing in on distances

be what his solo flight attains.