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 windswept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, nor 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.
Written at 30 000 feet in September 1941
by John Gillespie Magee Jr
19-year-old pilot of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Died 11 December 1941