Touching the Face of God (1 Viewer)

[Jack]

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.

 

[waynepoo]

Very good......{bravo}}
Wayne.

 

[jazzeum]

When I was a teenager back in the mid 60s in Long Island (outside of NY) and we had seven TV channels at the most and when TV channels signed off and discontinued their transmissions from about 1 or 2am until 6 the following day, one of the channels (ABC, I think) would sign off with this poem with accompanying film footage.

When I saw the title of your thread my mind instantly thought of that. Thanks for bringing back old memories Jack.

 

[larso]

That poem has magic to it.

 

[Jack]

When I was a teenager back in the mid 60s in Long Island (outside of NY) and we had seven TV channels at the most and when TV channels signed off and discontinued their transmissions from about 1 or 2am until 6 the following day, one of the channels (ABC, I think) would sign off with this poem with accompanying film footage.

When I saw the title of your thread my mind instantly thought of that. Thanks for bringing back old memories Jack.

Brad

Thank you for the kind words. There is, as Larso suggests, a magic in those words. Secular language cannot always convey experience with the same reverence and immediacy as the language of religion. That is why any Australian political speech is dry and impersonal as any hint of a religious reference is a massive vote loser. A shame because it robs our language of a lot of colour. Shakespeare might have been good but he could npot have written Henry V is Orstralyon.

Jack

 

[jazzeum]

Jack,

The poem seems simple and uncomplicated but yet it is not for the symbolism is strong and one feels as if he is the one experiencing the soaring experience and finding unity with the inexplicable.

I think this is the film that may have been the sign-off. It certainly was for many when you read the comments.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EzQYd_INSOg

 

[Jack]

Jack,

The poem seems simple and uncomplicated but yet it is not for the symbolism is strong and one feels as if he is the one experiencing the soaring experience and finding unity with the inexplicable.

I think this is the film that may have been the sign-off. It certainly was for many when you read the comments.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EzQYd_INSOg

Brad

I can see why you remember it so well.

I would venture to suggest that someone who had not flown might well find it impossible to write a poem quite like this one. I did, however, feel surprised when I heard that The Beach Boys were not really beach boys so some people might have managed it.

Another excellent poem that you will be familiar with is 'An Irish Airman Forsees his Death' by Yeats. I always associated it with the WW2 RAF (it was later used in the movie Memphis Bell) but it was written in 1918.

Jack