Winged Wednesday :: WW002 :: Spitfire & Robin

“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."

John Gillespie Magee, Jr



Magee, born in China to an American father and an English mother, was a pilot officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). He wrote this sonnet just before he was killed in an accident whilst flying a Spitfire. I thought it fitting as this Spitfire at Biggin Hill was also part of the RCAF during WW2.


I have added an Extra of my friendly Robin. Less bugs but happy in an April shower.