Every day, so long ago, I would watch the launches.

Every day, I watched them.

Those four men, they guided her.

Every day I watched

As four men carried the weight of the world

Upon mere fingertips.

Moored she swayed;

Straining against earthly ties,

Longing to float as simply as the clouds.

At the earth she seemed to say:

“Burden me not with your chains; your sandbags.

Cut these bounds so that I may be free.”

I almost answer her plea.

Taunt canvas skin on bones of steel.

She is beautiful.

Every day, so long ago, I would watch the launches.

Every day I told myself that I too

Would float weightless

Among the clouds.

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