First Flight

Words by Philip Barnett

Gravity keeps us all here on the ground
Quite useful when all’s said and done
How does it sound, people floating around?
I wonder if that would be fun

We start out by walking, and then learn to run
and climb mountains ever so high
And from earliest days we’ve been looking for ways
To get ourselves into the sky

In legends of old, to escape with his son,
Daedalus built wings for the pair
Made of feathers and wax, and strapped to their backs
He cautioned the boy to take care

“Fly too near the sun, the wax will soon melt
Your wings will then disintegrate
Quickly you’ll find that I’ve left you behind
You’ll suffer a terrible fate”

But the lad flew too high, too close to the sun
And as warned, young Icarus found
That all was not right for the rest of his flight
He straight ‘way crashed onto the ground

Since then we’ve progressed, by leaps and by bounds
Advanced at a frightening pace
Flying around, so much faster than sound
We’ve even been out into space

The future, I think, will be different again
(The circle is certainly round)
With the rise of the drone which can map the unknown
We can stay once more, here, on the ground