High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly 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 have not dreamed of -- wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence.  Hovering there
I've chased the shouting winds 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 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.

Sonnet written by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
An American, born of American missionaries in China, he joined the Royal Candian Air Force as a fighter pilot during WWII and was shot down and killed at age 19 during the Battle of Britain. In 1942, the RCAF sent copies of Magee's portrait and poem to every air-training school in the British Commonwealth.