High Flight
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

September 3, 1941

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split 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.

John Gillespie Magee Jr. was an American, born in China, and educated in England. When WWII broke out in 1939, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Text courtesy of Linda Granfield, author of High Flight. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1999. Photo: C. Brown-Syed, 2005.  [Back]