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 windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even 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.

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Flying has been the mantra of life for pilots since the dawn of aviation. High Flight is a tribute to those special people known as Aviators who break free from the shackles of this earth & fly away to the blue sky.

Everytime I read this poem, it sends a tingling sensation down my spine. It strikes a chord deep within me & makes me yearn to strap up the harness, close the canopy & take off to touch the sky.

Sky - its a different world to be in. Flying is not a passion, its not a religion, its not an obsession. Flying is life! Everything else pales into insignificance.