High Flight by John Gillespie Magee

Oh, I have slipped the surely bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sunsplit 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 wind-swept 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.