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. 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.
~author ~John Gillespie Magee, Jr**
~Happy Birthday~
~Darling Daughter~
~Love Mom~
May 1999
**Pilot Officer JOHN GILLISPIE MAGEE, JR. No 412 Squadron, RCAF (1922-1941) was a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II He was stationed in a Spitfire squadron, He was killed during a training flight on December 11 1941 in England. The poem was written to his parents on the back of a letter which said, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed".
copyright by limeylady 1999 ©
