In Loving Memory of My Father
Vernon L. Prather
October 2, 1932 - November 13, 2012
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 throught 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 sancitity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
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 throught 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 sancitity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
