A lone F-16 drifts upward, leaving in its wake, a footprint of swirls to mark its passage through a magnificent ocean of clouds. Inspired by American pilot John Gillespie Magee, Jr.s poem, written to his parents 2 months before he perished in his Spitfire over Britain. 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 ever 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. John Gillespie Magee, Jr Size 24"x30" |
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