HIGH FLIGHT

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silver 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; hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or eagle flew -

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sancity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

--John Gillespie Magee, Jr., 3 Sept., 1941