Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Another Person's Words Wednesday

High Flight 
by John Gillespie Magee

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 falls of air...


Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace


Where never lark, nor eer 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.



13 comments:

  1. My dad was a pilot and I loved this poem enough to read at his funeral. You did a wonderful job of illustrating it with photographs.

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  2. I remember Reagan reading that poem after the Challenger disaster. That was one of his finest moments.

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  3. I wondered where I'd heard this poem before -- and Beach Bum's comment made me remember. I love that the face of God includes sheep. :)

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  4. That was the first thing I thought of, too, Beach Bum... Reagan reading it.
    The perfect words to pair with your photos.

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  5. Wow! Outstanding post. I love the rural scenery...it looks so peaceful.

    S

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  6. Ha! I'll now see a sheep whenever I ponder the face of god.

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  8. It stands to reason: if Jesus is the Lamb of God, well, there you have it...God must be a sheep. Pictures are of a flock of rock pigeons over a recently harvested corn field in rural Ohio. The sheep are Colored Corriedale ewes...the divine feminine, as it were.

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  9. And yes, in that moment, Ronald Reagan was the Great Comforter. It was one of his very finest moments as president. I still feel the tears well up when I see the video of him reciting the poem. I still try to avoid watching the Challenger video. Once was enough.

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  10. I think of Reagan too - eventually. But first I think of Opus from Bloom County :)

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