In Memory Of
Jesse Evans
Born
Taken from his
Family and Friends
January2, 2004
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
wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never
lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while
silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my
hand, and touched the face of God.
Composed in
September 1941
By
Officer John Gillespie Magee
Jr.