FLY THESE SPACIOUS SKIES!

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 - and wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sun-lit silence. Hovering there
I'v 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 or even eagle flew,
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Killed in an aircraft accident
in England, December 1941