46 SCIENCE REMAKING THE WORLD 



machines of twenty years ago that got out of breath 

 when it climbed a hill and occasionally broke down on a 

 level. But I do not think he can write any better now 

 that he has a modern racer. 



The French seem to be quicker than we in perceiving 

 the poetry in modern inventions. Maeterlinck's prose 

 poem on the first automobile may be matched by Ed 

 mond Rostand's sonnet on the first airplane: 



J'avais sur la montagne un grand jardin secret 



Mais, ce soir, se levant du fond de la campagne, 



Le long biplan que Toeil des bergers accompagne 



Vint a ma solitude infliger un soufflet. 



Car, doublant mon toit basque ou, presque, il s'eraflait, 



Le monstre pour lequel il n'est plus de montagne 



Passa sur mon jardin comme le vent d'Espagne, 



Et mon sable cut son ombre, et mon lac son reflet! 



J'aurais du t'en vouloir, beau monstre de toile, 



Moi qui n'ayant cherche que 1'aigle et que 1'etoile 



Suis venu sur ce mont, loin du plaisir humain, 



Pour avoir a moi seul un ciel qui se deploie! 



Mais j'ai crie d'orgueil et j'ai pleure de joie 



Lorsque j'ai vu mon ciel devenir un chemin! 1 



'For the benefit of those who do not read French my wife has put thi 

 poem into English verse: 



A high and secret garden was my own. 

 This evening, rising from the low champaign, 

 While shepherds stood astare, the long biplane 

 Above my sheltered seat was swiftly blown, 

 And buzzed about my Basque roof with its drone! 

 The linen monster mountains bar in vain, 

 Passed o'er my garden like the wind from Spain; 

 A moment's shadow on my lake was thrown. 

 Fair monster! Should I not have wished you far; 

 I, who to seek the eagle and the star, 

 To claim a space of heaven for my abode, 

 Had climbed the height to human joy denied? 

 I wept with joy and shouted out with pride 

 To see this heaven of mine become a road! 



