His naked arms flap feebly in the void
And Icarus discovers that, aloft,
He bears no more resemblance to a bird
Than, to a worm, he bore while on the earth.
The throbbing sun burns sharply on his skin
And, pausing in the empty air, he cries
As, like a rock thrown high into the clouds,
His arc complete, the child begins to fall.
His desperate sobs are swallowed by the wind
That sends him spinning to the greedy earth
As feathers, incandescent blue
Cascade from him like upward tears
And crying for the gift of flight,
The gift of life, his body breaks
Against the icy surface
Of the hungry sea below.