by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941)
Translation
High Flight
Language: English  after the English
Chosen for Diff
Fly, fly, fly! I will fly, fly, fly! I have chased the wind And danced the sky, | On silvered wings to the | laughter silvered sun I've climbed. And with the clouds in tumbling mirth, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth. Higher and higher am I. And with these wings I fly! Up, up the long and burning blue, Where never lark nor eagle ever flew,, Hovering in the silence. Ascend, oh my soul, on the wings of the wind as it blows | on the wings of a song, | Up from the struggle and pain, Reaching to rise and reaching to fly again! Fly, fly, fly! I will fly, fly, fly! I have chased the wind And danced the sky, | On silvered wings to the | laughter silvered sun I've climbed. And with the clouds in tumbling mirth, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth. Higher and higher am I. And with these wings I fly! And with these wings I rise and fly!
Note: this adaptation also makes use of some material from Mathilde Blind's poem "Prelude — Wings".
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It is based on
- a text in English by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941), "High flight", written 1941
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Laura Farnell (b. 1975), "High Flight", copyright © 2023 [ satb chorus and piano ], Santa Barbara Music Publishing
Publisher: Santa Barbara Music Publishing [external link]
Score: Perusal score [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2026-09-08
Line count: 28
Word count: 171