"High Flight"
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
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, 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 who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was killed at the age of nineteen, flying a Spitfire during the Battle of Britain. He was born in China and lived in Washington, where his father was rector of St. John's Church across from the White House. "High Flight" is without a doubt the best-known poem among aviators and can be found, elegantly framed or carelessly tacked, on home and office walls around most military airfields." -- Michael Collins, "Carrying the Fire"