A presentation in words and music commissioned by Bentley Priory Museum for the RAF centenary (1918-2018). Live performance In addition to original musical items the show included a number of spoken elements including the following poem. First Flight Words by Philip Barnett
Gravity keeps us all here on the ground Quite useful when all’s said and done How does it sound, people floating around? I wonder if that would be fun
We start out by walking, and then learn to run and climb mountains ever so high And from earliest days we’ve been looking for ways To get ourselves into the sky
In legends of old, to escape with his son, Daedalus built wings for the pair Made of feathers and wax, and strapped to their backs He cautioned the boy to take care
“Fly too near the sun, the wax will soon melt Your wings will then disintegrate Quickly you’ll find that I’ve left you behind You’ll suffer a terrible fate”
But the lad flew too high, too close to the sun And as warned, young Icarus found That all was not right for the rest of his flight He straight ‘way crashed onto the ground
Since then we’ve progressed, by leaps and by bounds Advanced at a frightening pace Flying around, so much faster than sound We’ve even been out into space
The future, I think, will be different again (The circle is certainly round) With the rise of the drone which can map the unknown We can stay once more, here, on the ground