Da Vinci Lumbers through the Sistine Chapel

The abbess lets her sisters test

the secret flying instrument

And one by one they pedal through

the lofty air of the high room

The abbess calls instructions out

soft hands cupped around her mouth

Beneath the arching painted sky

the machine is flapping up and down

Suspended in the atmosphere

by cranks and belts and spinning wheels

As God with his fingers reaches

out to touch its vellum wings