High Flight
Submitted by StvyY19 on November 1, 2005 - 7:58pm.
Someone I know heard this poem on television several times, as a child growing up. Since then she has found it to be very uplifting. It strikes a chord in me as well and so I asked to borrow it.
High Flight
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 untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
it's the last line in High Flight that moves me also. I have just read it for the first time and have no history of it untill your post. Thanks for your interest and response. BTW I too remember when the TV stations signed off each night. LOL.
Barb
It captures the essence of flying perfectly.
Have you ever seen the FAA annotated version of it? It's so true -- seems like the FAA does a good job of taking the fun out of flying!
http://www.main.org/polycosmos/glxywest/high-faa.htm
And guys, if that poem moves you, may I recommend you take a discovery flight so that you can find out what it is like to slip the surly bonds of earth? It really is a thrill that never goes away.
I like my copy more. LOL. You can just feel yourself up in the air and the peacefulness of it all. Thanks for your interest and the link.
Barb
The FAA one is one that is designed, to, like just about everything the FAA does, take all the joy and fun and freedom out of flying. And if the FAA isn't doing something, these days, the TSA is, or the FBI is, or the Secret Service is, or the department of homeland [in]security is, or......
Does 10.9 hours in a Piper Cherokee 140 count?
My claim to fame was that my instructor soloed me after only 4.9 hours in the cokpit. He told me that I made him feel like a good instructor.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
Now go and get your ticket. Especially now, since they've got the sport pilot option going, which is great if you just want to go up and tool around every now and then.
I had those 10.9 hours in 1968. Think the statute of limitations has run out?
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
They're all dual except for about an hour of solo time, correct? If so, they still count to the minimum time required to get your ticket.
Seriously, Stan, do it! It isn't like riding a bike, you'd have to relearn things, but when they get you back up there again, you're gonna have a blast.
Of the six hours I logged after he soloed me after 4.9 hours, about three of them were complete solos.
At 4.9 hours, he jumped out of the plane and told me to shoot three touch and goes by myself. Then he jumped back in and gave me a set of small wings.
He then told me to take my next two hours practicing stalls and such, so I did that by myself.
Does that answer your question? Those three hours of solo time were of course in a dual-control cockpit, but there was no one else there.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
Thanks for posting it.
When I was in high school over 40 years ago and was old enough to stay up late enough until the TV stations signed off (yes, they used to sign off every night), one of the Oklahoma City stations signed off not with the Star Spangled Banner like the others did, but with High Flight. I always loved it, especially the last line.
...Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
That always moved me.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?