HIGH FLIGHT

O, 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.

Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind - swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew,
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee,Jr.







       

This poem is printed in Doug's book The Canadians at War, and after his death, I found that he had made many notations throughout the book, one of which was "my favourite poem" beside "High Flight". I had the first line of the poem put on the base of our gravestone.

John Gillespie Magee






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