High Flight - Touch the Face of God

I was thinking about Ronald Reagan for some reason this morning. I was thinking about the unifier and the inspiration he seemed so capable of delivering without forethought.

I recalled the eloquence of the tribute he gave to the pioneers of flight, the seven passengers aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Do you remember the closing where he quoted briefly from the poem “High Flight” penned by a pilot in the Canadian Royal Air Force, John Gillespe Magee?  Ironically, the author died in 1941 at age 19.

I loved the images of this short poem. If read casually, it may seem to be bragging about the things he has done in flight. But on closer examination, it is a call for all of us to slip the surly bonds of Earth, the trod the untrespassed sanctity of space and to touch the face of God.

I went back and watched President Reagan’s tribute on Youtube.

I found a few musical adaptations of this poem. The one I liked the best was written and performed by a bluesy Christian singer, Phil Driscoll.

I invite you to watch these to videos and read the words below.

May we all escape the confining pull of gravity from time to time, and touch the face of God. If that encounter is too far away, find a child and touch their face. It is the next best thing.

"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 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gillespie_Magee,_Jr