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A Law of Physics

Saturday, March 25,1911



One body falling alone is its own weight

times distance.

Two bodies falling alone are their own but

if they hold hands

their weight is multiplied.



Here’s a for instance:

Two girls are on a ledge.

The building is burning.

There are nets below.

The girls are young and for the purpose

of this example

thin and frightened.

It is eight stories to the ground.

The net can hold 90, 120, 150 pounds

times the distance but

holding hands

they become 11,000 pounds on impact.

The net breaks.

No one knows the price

of comfort,

how much they loved each other

and expected, by jumping,

neither to live nor die

but fly

released

from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.