Icarus’s last thoughts

Johanna Lamont

Let me fly and reach and fall

Let the sky weep for its fallen love

Let the waters laugh at the foolishness of man

Let me presume to touch the tailcoat of heaven

Let me live and breathe the agony of the impossible

After all, what is life without dying for what you love.

They say that I cried as I fell

Tears falling from my face to blend with the sea

Melted wax searing waves onto my arms.

It is a lie, I shed not a tear

I could not mourn what I longed to achieve

Who survived to say how it went?

Who ensured it could never happen again

He cut the wings of the next son he held.

Who saw the sun take its last willing sacrifice

Who saw the end of the golden youth

He wished his son loved him more than fickle Apollo.