After He Fell

Icarus loved the sun

Like a bullet loves a gun

Yet the sun was the bullet

And Icarus was the trigger

The bullet that bore through man’s flesh

And the sun melted Icarus’ wings

Scorched his skin like some kind of holy ritual

And Icarus laughed as he fell

Icarus laughed in bitter triumph

 As gravity hugged him closer

He was supposed to be soaring

And here he was falling

The fall didn’t scare him

The view enchanted him

He went down in flames

But, oh, he went down with a smile

He went down knowing something better awaited him

Better than the chain-bound imprisonment of gravity in this world

Then he would finally fly

And his reign would prosper in the sky

He closed his eyes and laughed again

As the gun shot pierced his ears

A bullet would not break him

For his heart lied with the sun

Gravity would not detain him

For he was one with the sun

A faint voice whispered to him “open your eyes child, open your eyes.”

Icarus asked “is this paradise?”

The voice laughed “you’ve been told lies.”

And Icarus cried, oh he cried.