I saw this contrail today on the way back from the grocery store and I thought of the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. and it begins: " Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings..." A contrail is a "condensation trail" that comes from high-flying turbojet aircraft when the exhaust from the engines, which contain water vapor, condenses and freezes into ice crystals. So they are actually man-made clouds, and they usually form above 26,000 feet. So when I see the contrails, I know that there is a jet at the front end, and I think of people winging their way somewhere far away.
Contrails like that make Sam want to be in the plane... . Thanks for letting me stretch my arms by looking up.
ReplyDeleteI love that poem. The minister read it at Joe Watson's funeral. It was a very moving service.
ReplyDeleteMJ Auch
What a perfect poem for Joe - particularly since he was a pilot in WW II. Thanks for telling me about that.
ReplyDelete