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HOBNOBBING WITH THE FIRMAMENT

They're coming closer up—and see,
They're getting sharper—every tree!

Now look! She zooms! Agile she springs
Aloft with taut and straining wings.
In one great climb she squanders all
The power she gathered in her fall;
She leaves the woodlands in her wake,
She cuts across a marshy lake,
And dipping gently, circles round
Above the aviation ground,
Where field-mechanics stand about
To lend a hand and help you out—
To ask you how you liked to drop
Five thousand feet without a stop,
And if the loop was all you thought
A loop would likely be or not?

You thank them—tell them all how glad
You were to have the ride you had,
And then, a trifle limp and white,
With some slight loss of appetite,
And with two rather wobbly pegs
As proxies for your former legs,
You kick the turf up with your heel
To reassure yourself it's real—
A little woozy still you feel,

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