“Inspiration,” photo by Wilson Wyatt Jr.      Click on photo for larger image

Today’s photo is a tribute to John Gillespie Magee Jr.’s familiar sonnet, “High Flight.”  He wrote the last line when he was inspired as a pilot, first reaching an altitude of 33,000 feet in 1941, during World War II:

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.                                                                   

A special thanks to the organizers of the Annual Easton Airport Day, on September 27, where “Warbird Formation” flyovers generated choruses of “wows” from an appreciative crowd of children, mothers, dads, and our veterans. The planes were classics, many dating back to World War II. One could not see the show without being mindful of the importance of flight to our freedoms.

It was a beautiful day, filled with family enjoyment.  It was also a day of inspiration.