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.