Monday, September 27, 2010

Slipping the surly bonds of gravity





I can never get enough of these beautiful sky creatures... 
 They remind me of butterflies, their life in flight is never long enough...

6 comments:

  1. I remember those words "slipping the surly bonds of gravity" from a poem that was recited at the end of the broadcast day right before the National Anthem when TV stations went off the air at 1 or 2am. I have wanted to find that poem again. Do you know anything about it? My mother told me it was written before flight was developed. I thought "McGee" was part of the man's name. The skies were a wonderful blue backdrop for those colorful balloons. NM is the best place for hot air ballooning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://home.earthlink.net/~eilonwy/highflight/poem.htm
    This is what I found. The actual quote is "slipping the surly bonds of earth" Great poem.

    ReplyDelete
  3. High Flight

    by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

    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, 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.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the info! I looked up his bio. It cleared up my questions. I've spent the day thinking about the power of a young man and his dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is also one of my VERY favorites and I say it to myself every time I fly...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the Ronald Reagan quote. It has meant "brave astronaut" to me.

    ReplyDelete