Whitacre: Leonardo Dreams Of His Flying Machine

Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine...

Tormented by visions of flight and falling,

More wondrous and terrible each than the last,

Master Leonardo imagines an engine

To carry a man up into the sun...

And as he's dreaming the heavens call him,

"Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare". ("Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly".)

L'uomo colle sua congiegniate e grandi ale,

facciendo forza contro alla resistente aria.

(A man with wings large enough and duly connected

might learn to overcome the resistance of the air.)

II.

Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine...

As the candles burn low he paces and writes,

Releasing purchased pigeons one by one

Into the golden Tuscan sunrise...

And as he dreams, again the calling,

The very air itself gives voice:

"Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare". ("Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly".)

Vicina all'elemento del fuoco...

(Close to the sphere of elemental fire...)

Scratching quill on crumpled paper,

Rete, canna, filo, carta.

(Net, cane, thread, paper.)

Images of wing and frame and fabric fastened tightly.

...sulla suprema sottile aria.

(...in the highest and rarest atmosphere.)

III.

Master Leonardo Da Vinci Dreams of his Flying Machine...

As the midnight watchtower tolls,

Over rooftop, street and dome,

The triumph of a human being ascending

In the dreaming of a mortal man.

Leonardo steels himself,

takes one last breath,

and leaps...