Sons and Daughters of Icarus

Never Fly Too Close to the Sun

When King Minos of Crete needed a labyrinth built,

He looked for an architect and craftsman truly skilled,

They brought him Daedalus the best inventor and builder in the land,

Who with his son Icarus could build monuments of bricks and sand.

When Daedalus sat down to make his outlines and plan,

He asked for the wisdom of the ancients of the land,

Who bestowed him with creativity and knowledge rare,

Which helped him build an edifice with dedication and care.

However, the king and the builder had a falling out,

The price agreed was not paid, said Daedalus with a shout,

King Minos was furious and not about to lose face in court,

At the words of a builder, who could make a house and a boat.

King Minos cast the father and his son into the labyrinth they built,

And sealed the pair in for all time, with sand and filth,

But the inventive Daedalus and his son Icarus made a plan to flee,

On pairs of wings made of wax to fly over land and sea.

In the silence of the labyrinthine prison and within its four walls,

Using all that extra materials they had stored in the halls,

Daedalus and Icarus chiseled, carved, waxed and oiled,

And dried out the wings from the geese they had boiled.

It was not long before, the plan was ready to fly,

When the sun rose in the eastern sky,

That Daedalus and his son Icarus wore their harness rings,

Setting off to fly on their delicately carved, waxen airborne wings.

Daedalus remembered that the Sun was shining bright,

So, he told his son Icarus to keep away from the sunlight,

“Do not fly too close to the Sun and steer away using your belt,

Or those waxen wings of yours will surely dissolve and melt.”

Father and son escaped from the labyrinth prison they had built,

Through the blue skies over the towns, the sands, and the sea,

The young and daring Icarus was overjoyed at the miracle of flight,

And flew too close to the fiery sun and its fiery light.

The waxwings which Icarus wore on his back,

Melted in the sunlight turning liquid black,

Icarus lost his power of flight and descended like a rock,

Into an ocean where he drowned like a sinking clock.

Never fly too close to the sun and risk getting burned,

Is wisdom most often lived and finally learned.

Mankind will one day soar up and beyond the skies,

Crossing boundaries of infinity and discovering where the truth lies.

The sons and daughters of Icarus are the present children of man,

Who will fly over deserts, mountains, oceans, cities, and sand,

To find the rewards that the Universe, Creation, and creativity delivers,

The pinnacle of human achievements, infinite worlds of mountains and rivers.