High Flight

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.\

John Gillespie Magee, Jr. An American citizen born in Shanghai of an American missionary dad and an English mum. He composed "High Flight" on September 3, 1941, after taking a new Spitfire V up to 30,000 feet. He died at age 19 on December 11, 1941, his Spitfire colliding with a trainer in the clouds over England near Scopwick, Lincolnshire. He served in No. 412 Squadron, RCAF.

References:
 * http://www.challenger.ca/100things_$magee.html
 * http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/prewwii/jgm.htm
 * http://www.churchmousewebsite.co.uk/Magee.htm