Spitfire pilot <br />Canadian pilot shot down in 1941 <br /> <br />Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth <br />And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings; <br />Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth <br />Of sun split clouds—and done a hundred things <br />You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared <br />And swung <br />High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there, <br />I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung <br />My eager craft through footless halls of air. <br />Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue <br />I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace <br />Where never lark, or even eagle flew- <br />And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod <br />The high untrespassed sanctitiy of space, <br />Put out my hand and touched the face of God.<br /><br />John Gillespie Magee JR<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/high-flight/
