Icarus
The need to escape confinement -
in his case, trapped in a labyrinth
where a deadly monster called a minotaur lurked;
this led the boy to leap on home-made wings of feathers
held in place by wax.
Ofcourse, he didn’t listen to what his inventor-dad said.
Who wants a middle path?
not too high, not too low!
Sensible - safe - as told,
when the priority was to distance himself then and there,
at whatever cost,
from the danger at hand.
To leap from a cliff or parapet
requires more than life-saving desperation:
but a passion and vision for adventure - a hopeful outcome
and raw courage, the adrenalin
to act…
Whata rash fool to take such unconscionable risks!
When there are loved ones worrying
dependants reliant,
everything to lose.
Against what odds?
And to what end?
So he flew up and up and up
into wider and wilder freedoms
greater, bipolar perspectives,
senses of unlimited liberty, space,
until, in range of the solar furnace,
his waxy joints softened and began to melt:
which caused the lad to tumble down and down and down
into the Icarian sea.
To be so-called, in due course,
to commemorate his silly flight:
the folly and hubris of tempting fate,
escaping from what we cannot
and playing tag with extremes.
Oct