Imperfect Birds

poem

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Daedalus said

Do you promise not to fall

You promise, Icarus

And Icarus replied, enthralled

By the assurance of flight, and the grace

Of those long pale feathers.

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Icarus is broken now

On the surface of the waters

And the corpse, freed from life

Has slipped underneath.

Bodiless, the feathers float;

Some severed by the passing bows

Of ships with painted eyes, which do not weep.

Daedalus forgets if his son made the vow –

Enough.

The boy is dead, and has no promises to keep.