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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth



A 2-minute clip from the 1960s. Back when TV shows signed off using patriotic material. An F-104 Starfighter goes through its paces, while a narrator recites the poem High Flight by John Magee (1922-1941).

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 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.

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