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| 1941: A workman crawls from a hatch in a barrage balloon after making repairs. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs |
The other day the Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day email brought this tiny gem to my mailbox.
The Balloon of the Mind
by William Butler Yeats
Hands, do what you're bid:
Bring the balloon of the mind
That bellies and drags in the wind
Into its narrow shed.
The lightness of a balloon, the heaviness of a mind, the image of hands pulling a troubled mind into a calm berth. So much depth packed into twenty-two words. Masterful, Mr. Yeats.
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| Model of a statue to French balloonists Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs |
Of course the Yeats poem reminded me of another poem involving men and balloons. This one is by E. E. Cummings, who also asked in a different poem, "Who knows if the moon's a balloon?"
[in Just-]
by E. E. Cummings
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
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| Balloon ascension at Concord, NH State Fair c: 1901 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs |
May our minds be as light as balloons in this new year.