Resurrecting Icarus

Resurrecting Icarus or A Modern Moral Fable by Rick Folker Kansas City, Mo Daedalus claimed the sky, Built a labyrinth from which Theseus could fly ... Minos enraged, entombed the Treacherous Daedalus in a tower No sky could aide the architect’s power On high No land, no sea Gave comfort to the builder's sigh Would he hopeless entreat the silent sky Or conquer it within, at least, in his mind’s eye? ... Yet, the great artificer fashioned An ingenious answer to the Minoan king; Feathers of wax resembling wings His craft and his son could now be free To dream Where only untamed zephyrs and partridges sing Where high aloft they would transcend Minos, Ariadne, Theseus And Meandering rivers of Cretan men ... But hubris, not modesty, carved the Icarian path Daedalus, proud Daedalus, helpless To tame the youth's spirit, and soften The gods' wrath And so Icarus unrestrained Tried, like Prometheus, to lay claim To the fire, that only Olympians retain And thus fell Icarus to Daedalus and The Nereids' plain ... Thus leaves us wondering, like hapless sages through the ages, "Would he rise again?" Or would his brilliant feathers melt into the smouldering shame? Or would the Phoenix sort and gather the remnants that remain And take up another more hopeful god's refrain: 'The surviving remnant will bring forth new roots below and fruits above; for you have restored the dignity my Icarus has duly slain”