Icarus After Auden

Icarus drifted strangely towards the world

and in such stagnant waters broke his fall.

Around the flightless man, the sea had curled.

He struggled in the waves, as seen by all.

Some sailed their ships to see by starlight, pulled

behind the hazy veil of cloud, the squall.

This sight of sea and man did much enthral.

For those who sought no fate as this, they hurled

their insults at the man with feathered wills.

And what comes now? Their humanness endures.

Through natural failure, joyless in appearance,

instructs all how to live past ignorance.

When seeking glory, they find humble cures

for hubris and wrong paths that fate fulfills.