High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of
Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-
silvered wings;
Sunward I have climber, and joined
the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds,-and done a
hundred things
You have not dreamed of- wheeled and
soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring
there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls
of air…
Up, up the long delirious, burning
blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights
with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew-
And while with silent, lifting mind
I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of
space,
-Put out my hand, and touched the
face of God
Officer
John Gillespie Magee Jr.
Royal
Canadian Air Force
