I lost the favor of the king and he locked me in a tower.

I built him a labyrinth for his beast and it was flawless; still he locked me in a tower.

He guarded me by land and sea but my child watched the gulls,

Gulls and birds and creatures of the air.

---

Minos did not watch the air.

---

I built my child wings of feathers and wax, feathers and wax

And warned him of his frailty.

---

I built my child and myself a future and we jumped, his face flushed with flight

My son was like a bird, an angel, a thing of clouds and light

Swooping diving soaring

And all was well.

---

“Fly not my son too close to the water, for the fog shall clog your wings.

And fly not too close to the sun, for Apollo’s heat will melt them.”

---

I had kissed him and sent him off into the currents of the air

I had kissed him and sent him off

Sent him off.

Sent

Spent

A child’s thrill of excitement, he exalted in his freedom.

---

Apollo loomed and Icarus screamed, too high and far from me to hear

Leaving me alone in empty skies to search

Until I saw the feathers on the waves.

Floating, drowning, soft and helpless

And I buried my boy in an unnamed land and named it thus.

Icaria.

Icarus.

A father’s broken love.