Eighty-two years ago... Think about that for a second. Eighty-two years!
This beautiful aircraft carried a young air mail pilot into the clouds of Olympus. That young air mail pilot has been gone for 35 years, but the Spirit is still with us. Is not that the way of life? Our stuff stays long after we are gone.
Yep, in my view, the most important aviation artifact ever. I have stood underneath the Spirit numerous times and am always astonished by the essence of glory that still radiates from the airframe. It is simply amazing.
Lindbergh's Grave
Palapalo Ho'omau Church Cemetery, Kipahulu, Southeast Maui
That long green swell that sears my eyes
As I lie in this bed of black stone,
Is it the Irish coast rising in the dawn
Beyond the brushed silver of my blind cowling
Where, throughout the night,
I trusted Not in some desert God's directions,
But in the calibrated compasses of man?
That rushing sound,
is it the hordes at Orly,
Swarming past the barriers and lights
To scavenge my Spirit,
and lift me up
Into the air that only heroes breath?
Or is it the age-old sigh of sea on stones,
Known to those who pace the shingle
And the swirled black sands that seep
Up from the sea's loom to wrap
Impossible islands in a shawl of waves?
That painting daubed on the chapel's window-
Not the roselined mandala at Chartres
Where flame in glass misprisoned sings-
But a cruder Savior, bearded, browned and popular,
An icon obtainable to plain sight,
a trim God Flat upon the glass in dull gesso limned,
And, when light moves behind it, looking down....
And, when light moves behind it, looking down....
Is this the sign in which, at last, we conquer?
Conquer? I'd laugh the laugh of stones
Had I but eyes to see and lips to breathe.
No, I am content here where man and apes
Together waltzing lie, having done at last
With all horizons, having done at last with sky.
If you would see me now pass by
The small green church where ancient
Banyans looming shade and guard
The tower and the bell which you
May toll for me, or you, or all those
Not yet delivered to the stars and sea.
And then, retreating, heed the trees
Whose tendrilled branches hold but air,
And shadow both the church and stones
Beneath which wait both apes and men,
Who, foolish with their hunger for the air,
Swung branch to branch up all the years
Until, letting go at last, they learned
Through me, at last, to rise.
Sea, stone, tree, ape and Savior.
These now my boon companions are.
Better here, I think, in this dank green
Cartoon of Paradise, this slight-of-hand Eden;
Better here beneath the pumiced stones
Where strangers drop a wreathe from time to time;
Better here than there, hovering over waves,
Alone between the new world and the old,
Trusting in a man-mad compass
To take me home along
The sharp cold blade of air.
Better, much better, here
Where the sound of the waves enfolds
That fire they could never snare.
Gerard Vanderleun
American Digest
Life on the Line continues...
25 comments:
If we weren't living in an age of degeneracy, Vanderleun would be known far and wide for his verse. Nice little Arnold fly-by in there which presses all the right buttons (including the self-congratulatory 'Me be a pretty deep file for spotting it... me be one of the illuminati' button :))
Only thing I didn't like was the use of 'limned' - a word with plenty of pedigree, but I think gratuitously overused by Bright Young Things these days and therefore slightly prone to irritate people allergic to same.
First and foremost, I am deeply honored and flattered to have my work included here on what I know to be the best pilot page in the 'sphere. Many thanks, not the least because seeing it here caused me to revisit the poem and redo it on my page today.
Second, I'm pleased that Genji caught the Arnold echo. It is always good to know that one's deeper associations are not always for naught.
However, third, ahem -- Genji, I seldom use "poetic" words just for their effect. If you visit the chapel at Hana and walk up to the "stained-glass" window the poem references, you'll find that it is hand painted on the glass in the manner of a monk's illuminated manuscript; i.e. "limned."
I've included a photograph of the window in the new posting of the poem here:
http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/grace_notes/at_lindberghs_g.php
Thanks again to Dave.
Upon reflection, perhaps I was being the Bright Young Thing with my knee-jerk reaction to 'limned' - it *is* the right word for the thing as it is.
Don't want to digress too much, but... Mr. V: Is there a word to describe the rhetorical device of leaving pleasing-to-find allusions lying around for readers to stumble upon? I'm not just thinking of poetic association, but also (for example) glancing introduction of or mention of characters from Canonical Novel X in Trade Novel Y.
My well used copy of We is on a bookshelf in the garage. I see it every time I get in my car. When I was a kid I carved from photos a model of the Spirit. The pic I took of her is wallpaper from time to time. And even more important to me is flying in and out of the SD airport and knowing where that wonderful journey started. And standing in the Smithsonian looking at her with tears in my eyes. All that stuff money can't buy.
Genji - "allusion" pretty much covers it.
Bummer... I was hoping there was some hi-falutin word for it of the order of (say) 'paronomasia'.
We are only immortals and in memories through our belongings.
No GPS, no VOR, DME, etc. Just a compass and a watch. Not only was it good flying, it was really good navigating. I remember reading about the flight and Lindberg's hardships.
Great Aviator, Sadly flawed when it came to his view of his fellow man. (bit of a Nazi)
Whenever Lindbergh is discussed, I always set my watch and wait for the tool with that "extra information" to show up and remind everyone of the flaws of the man.
It always reminds me of the preening flaws of the commenter instead.
Give it a rest.
In case you haven't been, be sure and see the Air and Space Museum next to Dulles. In my personal opinion, I think it is much better than the one down on the Mall. The $15 parking fee is, of course, ridiculous but at least the admission fee is still zero. I'm a long-term passenger, not a pilot, but it still took me four hours to get my fill for a first visit to the near-Dulles museum and I'm ready for a return visit because my camera battery was dead for the first one.
Ed Skinner is correct! You have to love a museum that when you walk into the main area you see an SR-71 with the Space Shuttle in the distance. Only the USAF museum at Wright Patterson comes close - and only when they open up the hangars on the base with the really cool airliners used by the Presidents.
Absolutely a wonder! This museum is different from the regular NASM on the mall in that it's really about the planes themselves. Not much spent on display settings and fake aerodromes, etc. But the planes are magnificently restored, and not replicas like many at the museum in San Diego at Balboa Park. I planned my last trip to DC specifically to go through Dulles and to arrive early so that I could visit the museum. There is a shuttle bus right from the terminal for a buck or two (avoided the parking fee!). Only downer... my happy meal at the McD's in the museum was about $7!
Tim G in MN
Since I can't figure out how to edit my previous post, I just want to apologize for overstating the number of replica aircraft at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. There are a few rather than many, and they definitley add to the completeness of the collection. SDASM is a great place visit if you are in the area.
Tim G in MN
We go to Maui every May and almost always stop by his gravesite and enjoy a lunch in the beautiful little park there. Whenever we stop there I marvel over the skill and courage it took to make the flight.
That GREAT Air Museum by Dulles Internation is the Udvar Hazy and if you love flight and the machines that carry man into the air and space, you do need to go there for a few hours.
When you walk into this incredible space you see, way way over there, tucked away in a far corner, the Enterprise. Hard to believe that a full size Space Shuttle can look small inside a building but it does.
Thanks again Dave.
I stopped reading at "Dover Beach" but perhaps there is more to Arnold than I knew.
"...to wrap
impossible islands in a shawl of waves."
Love that image. Don't know how far the general public may appreciate this kind of poetry. I like it and am happy Dave quoted it here.
If William Turner, the famous English painter were still alive, I'd like him to have had a jumpseat ride along with Dave.
He would have portrayed the moods of the stratosphere the same way he painted the sea.
Once he had himself tied to a ship's mast during a storm, just for a close study.
If he sat with Captain Dave, a seatbelt would suffice.
Certainly enjoyed the Blog on the Spirit, especially the poem. My Dad, working for the Lawrence Aero Engine Company, in NYC, was the designer of the engine used in the Spirit. For years we had all the original engine models stored in our basement. He finally got around to donating all the "stuff", as my Mom referred to it, to the Smithsonian. They were to place most of it on exhibit in the "new" facility. Dad died several weeks before the scheduled exhibit. Good memories however and again, good "Blog".
Had a wonderful dream last night!
After our on-line party celebrating Dave's 5 years of Flight Level 390, I dreamed we all arranged to meet up and charter FiFi, captained by Dave, for our own tour. We visited air museums, Anchorage, and Dave's favourite places, stopping at the best Starbucks periodically en route!
I am not sure if I was awake or asleep...
Sorry...who was he? Oh...another mail flyer...and a bloody good self-publicist...and a McCain (???!!!) ...and what was that about fascism a few years later?
Sorry to disturb the (slightly dodgy) image of an all-American hero who was first across the Atlantic...oh...he wasn't?...who were those Alcock and Brown?
Unimpressed, at the risk of being politically uncorrect I would say you can stick you comment in your ear (or any other orifice you choose). No matter what his political views were, his accomplishment was huge, and a great boost to aviation. Dave, if you feel this post is over the top feel free to delete it,sorry if I went over the edge.
Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States, had this to say about poetry (from a Boeing radio commercial from years ago):
'Whenever I begin to write a poem, the first thing I want the poem to do is clear the trees at the end of the runway. In other words, I think of a poem as a journey, a flight of the imagination which can transport the reader from the familiar to the mysterious, sometimes in the space of a dozen lines or so. Poetry for me is a kind of travel writing -travel writing of the highest order because it provides not only a change of scenery, but a change of consciousness. The poem's music and its rhythms combine to form the sound track to these mental excursions which carry us in two directions at once: out into the world and back into ourselves, for we read poetry not so much to discover who the poet is as to discover who we are. No wonder John Keats thought of poems as journeys into "realms of gold.
Many of us, unfortunately, have had our love of poetry beaten out of us at school because the entire emphasis was on interpretation. Too many teachers and students want to tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They want only to know what a poem means, but a better question for me is "where is the poem taking me?" and "why am I willing to follow?"
Poetry is always waiting there on the shelves, ready to carry us up over the treetops and into fresh dimensions. Many people today seem to be coming back to poetry. Some are even becoming frequent poetry travelers. But no matter how popular or how neglected poetry seems to be at any given moment, we should always remember that poetry is the only recorded history we have of the human heart.'
As far as I can tell, nobody posting on this site, including Dave, has claimed or even suggested that Lindbergh was "the first across the Atlantic". Neither were Alcock and Brown for that matter. So, maybe there is confusion (and a bit of national pride clouding the facts) on both sides of "the pond". (Just as a side note, I think a majority of Minnesotans believe that Charles Lindbergh was born here, but that's not true either!)
A nice site with some (hopefully) accurate information: http://www.century-of-flight.net/new%20site/frames/atlantic_frame.htm
Tim G in MN
Just a question would you put Charles Kingford-Smith in the same class as Charles Lindbergh?
They were both remarkable aviators.
I'd like your thoughts.
Having been to that museum as well, it's an awesome experience for any aviation fanatic! Thanks for rekindling some wonderful memories!
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