High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
Sunward I've climbed, 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.
Hovering there, I've chased the shouting wind along,
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
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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.
by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., September 3, 1941
