(Excerpt from Section 1)
John William Dunne–
Accomplished Anglo/Irish aeronautical engineer
Designer of Britain’s
Early military aircraft
Envisions flying machine
That needs no steering
No steering
Flight of the zanortia seed
Parachute seeds
Fly through the air
Carried by wind
Fly
Staying at a hotel
In Sussex
Dreams one night
Having an argument
With one of the waiters
What is the correct time?
What is the correct time?
JW asserts
It’s half past four
In the afternoon
The waiter
Says no
Can’t possibly be
–Why it’s half past four
–In the middle of the night
Nonsense!
What is the correct time?
What is the correct time?
No steering
Carried by wind
Concludes his watch
Must have stopped
Extracts 18k Grand Priz Paris Zenith watch
From his waistcoat pocket
That is precisely the case
Precisely the case
It has stopped
Standing in the wind
It has stopped
Stopped
In the wind
At half past four
Half past four
Wakes from his dream
Half past four
Puts on his glasses
Lights a match
To his surprise
The watch is not
As it usually is
By his bedside
Gets out of bed
Parts the mosquito curtains
Wakes from his dream
What is the correct time?
What is the correct time?
Finds it
Lying on a chest of drawers
Behind the mosquito curtains
It has stopped
Stopped
The hands
At half past four
Half past four
What is happening?
Solution perfectly obvious
I am a rational person
Watch must have stopped
Previous afternoon
I must have noticed
But forgotten
Behind the mosquito curtains
No steering
Carried by wind
Remembered in his dream
Remembered
Rewinds the instrument
But not knowing the real time
Leaves the hands as they are
As they are
Dashes downstairs
Find the nearest clock
Set the watch right
Set it right
To his absolute amazement
The hands
Have only lost
Two or three minutes
About the amount of time
Between waking from the dream
And rewinding the watch
The watch stopped
At the actual moment
Of the dream
Standing in the wind
Waking from the dream
How did I come to see
In my dream
That the hands stopped
As they actually did
How?
Half past four
Behind the mosquito curtains
Carried by wind
Carried by wind
JW Dunne
Has stopped time
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