Icarus

It's better to look at the sky than to live there.  Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear.  --Truman Capote 


It wasn’t the sun that killed him.
It wasn’t the wings that were to blame; he knew
feathers, wax and fire
compose a deadly fusion.

In the end it was the wanting that took him
too far. 
Reason met its end
where desire was born, where he began
to believe it was better to die in flames
than live in safety’s hollow keeping.

Though a fool, he was not alone. 
Listen--the unspoken question
buried in the collective human heart:
Is there any greater joy?  To burn
because we flew too high
fought too hard
loved too deeply? it is this
we want written on our graves:
Here lies Icarus: he
who touched the sun.

Comments

  1. Yes, there IS a much greater Joy!
    The Joy of a rose blooming red, just the right distance from the sun, surrounded by the rain of divine love in each drop of morning due.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Bob. ;-) That sounds like humanity's future...I think Icarus, and others like him, powered humanity's past. Maybe we are in transition. I would like to be the rose, someday.

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  2. Craig (Chief Crazy Leg) LyonMay 5, 2012 at 8:15 AM

    Love it. I would say Icky (may I call him Icky) dared to touch the sun. He dared to live life to its fullest. Shouldn't we all?

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