CRUISE FLIGHT

by Rob Robinette

Based on High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of my spouse
  And danced the clubs on Kiwi-polished  
boots;                                   
Moonward I've climbed, and joined the tum-    
bling mirth                           
    Of moon-split clouds—and done a hundred
things                                  
You have not dreamed of—in the Philippines    
   High in the domelit silence. Holding there,
I've scared the airsick pax, and flung their       
           baggage through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning black           
I've topped the turbulent heights with   
little grace                            
Where never C-130, or even C-5 flew.              
    And, while with fuzzy, sleep deprived mind
I've trod                              
The high untrespassed sanctity of due regard     
airspace,                             
   Put out my hand, and touched the face of
The Aircraft Commander,        
who thinks he is God. 

AMC FORM 1641A, SEP 92

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See the original High Flight