Not Long Ago, When I Was A

Lying Under An Acacia Tree With The Sound Of The Dawn Around Me, I Realized More Clearly The Facts That Man Should Never Overlook: That The Construction Of An Airplane, For Instance, Is Simple When Compared [with] A Bird; That Airplanes Depend On An Advanced Civilization, And That Were Civilization Is Most Advanced, Few Birds Exist. I Realized That If I Had To Choose, I Would Rather Have Birds Than Airplanes.

By Day, Or On A Cloudless Night, A Pilot May Drink The Wine Of The Gods, But It Has An Earthly Taste; He's A God Of The Earth, Like One Of The Grecian Deities Who Lives On Worldly Mountains And Descended For Intercourse With Men. But At Night, Over A Stratus Layer, All Sense Of The Planet May Disappear. You Know That Down Below, Beneath That Heavenly Blanket Is The Earth, Factual And Hard. But It's An Intellectual Knowledge; It's A Knowledge Tucked Away In The Mind; Not A Feeling That Penetrates The Body.

I Grow Aware Of Various Forms Of Man And Of Myself. I Am Form And I Am Formless, I Am Life And I Am Matter, Mortal And Immortal. I Am One And Many -- Myself And Humanity In Flux.

If One Took No Chances, One Would Not Fly At All. Safety Lies In The Judgment Of The Chances One Takes.

Living In Dreams Of Yesterday, We Find Ourselves Still Dreaming Of Impossible Future Conquests.