FLIGHT

 

 FLIGHT

Just in case you might  be wondering

Where you are 

Hanging from the glass ceiling

When you enter the spacious room

In the Marine Air Terminal (A)

Of La Guardia Airport

Is a model airplane

The Art Deco building

Constructed during the Great Depression 

Opened for business in 1939 

Its the last remaining terminal still in use 

Where you can can experience

What it was like when 

Air travel first became available

To the general public

Housed inside is also the largest mural of 

The Works Progress Administration 

A  Franklin Roosevelt New Deal agency 

Which employed over ten thousand artists 

Encouraging them to discover

A distinctive American style

James Brooks circular "Flight"

Completed in 1942 

Is 237 feet long by 12 feet high

Capturing humanity's

Longing to soar above the earth

However in 1952 during the Cold War 

Red Scare hysteria

Someone decided to cover up

The mural with wall paint

Because this magnificent work of art 

Was thought to be subversive 

Socialist or Communist

Daring to depict flying 

As something catering to the masses

Not strictly to the rich or to the military

Fortunately the mural 

Was sealed in varnish

So it was able to be restored 

To its former glory in 1980

Showing us our imagination 

Can often reach up to the skies

And at other times 

Sink down to the gutter

Only as in this case to rise again