Kieran Healy

The high untrespassed sanctity of space

High Flight
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, 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.

Space and Liberalism

Kieran Healy’s posted a poem called “High Flight” that nicely sums up how I (and others, I think) think of

Surfdom surfing – Saturday

Digby has the most interesting response the space shuttle tragedy: it is the speech William Saffire wrote for President Nixon