high flight

 saw this when i was out and about today and found it inspiring:

dreams of soaring like the birds have captured the imagination of humankind for centuries.  men and women of all race and creed have yearned to take flight over the millennium.  we salute their dedication and pass their inspiration and their continued dream of flight to the future...

high flight

oh! i have slipped the surly bonds of earth 

and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

sunward i've climbed, and jointed the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds--and done a million 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 ever 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. RCAF