| High Flight · P/O John Gillespie Magee RCAF · 1922 to 1941 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 with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
| Formation Flight · Michelle L. Chaudoin · 1959 to 1980 All the colors of the horizon melt into the earth,
The mountains illuminated engarde with exaltation
The sky seems endless, above, beyond, and below,
The earth dances as we soar towards it,
Immortal men, that's who we are,
We have the wings of a gull, the hopes of a
poor man and the goals of a god,
We form wing to wing, becoming one mind,
anticipating each other's moves,
A feeling of so much closeness, a bond as strong
as the universe,
I'm actually floating, the person behind me
is just as high, I'm so happy,
No other time could be so perfect,
If this moment lives forever, I will live forever. | |
