In the Battle of 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 the lark, nor 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 (1922-1941)
A Canadian Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britian