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.