The myth of

Icarus
&
Daedalus
Do not fly too high

By Erine Concepcion

In the days of old,

the inventor Daedalus held the key
To King Minos
Minos
most urgent plight.
The monstrous
Minotaur, mighty
man
man--bull,
Threatened all of
Crete.

Minotaur feasted on human flesh

Snorting, slobbering, shredding
Bellowing, booming, baying.
The earth thundering under his hooves.
Walls, trees and houses quaking with every rage.

Finally a magnificent Labyrinth was made.

A tangle of twisting paths,
Bewildering blind alleys
At last restrained the beast.

Minos,
Cruel and corrupt,
Conceived a clever crime.
The inventor and his son were
shackled

In a dank and grim prison tower

Daedalus and Icarus sat.
Dark, dismal, desperate.
Suddenly, a plan!
A flapping of wings outside the window.
I shall make some wings
So that we can escape this horrible place.

Daedalus and Icarus began to scrounge

For feathers from birds
Wax from the candle drippings left by the jailers.
Daedalus rubbed the wax roughly between his fingers.
At last they were finished.

Drawing close to his son,

Daedalus sternly warned,
Do not fly too high. The Sun will melt
your wings.
They squeezed through the bars of their
cell.
They looked down at the green-blue ocean
With torrents of white foam crashing on
the rocks below.
They were whipped by wild winds.

The two jumped off the edge.

Time stopped.
It looked as if they would plummet into
the sea.
But they forced their wings together and
swept up to the heavens.

Then Icarus felt a terrible

change.
A drop on his shoulder.
He turned his head.
The wings were beginning
to melt.
Suddenly feathers were
flying off everywhere.

He silently screamed.
Daedalus saw his son
plunge into the sea.

Do not fly too

high. The Sun
will melt your
wings.