High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surely bonds of earth
And danced the sky on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed
And joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds
And done a hundred things you've never dreamed of;

Wheeled and soared and swung high the sunlit silence;
Hovering there, I've chased the shouting winds aloft
And flung my eager craft through footless halls of air;

Up, up the long delerious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew

And while with silent lifting mind
I've trod the trespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

by John Gilespie Magee, Jr.