it was sunny because the universe does not care about the grief of men. - semyonov, reddit
Painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by William Carlos Williams (poem)
According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring
a farmer was ploughing
his field
the whole pageantry
of the year was
awake tingling
near
the edge of the sea
concerned
with itself
sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings' wax
unsignificantly
off the coast
there was
a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning
By W. H. Auden - December 1938
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
Here is what they don’t tell you:
Icarus laughed as he fell.
Threw his head back and
yelled into the winds,
arms spread wide,
teeth bared to the world.
(There is a bitter triumph
in crashing when you should be
soaring.)
The wax scorched his skin,
ran blazing trails down his back,
his thighs, his ankles, his feet.
Feathers floated like prayers
past his fingers,
close enough to snatch back.
Death breathed burning kisses
against his shoulders,
where the wings joined the harness.
The sun painted everything
in shades of gold.
(There is a certain beauty
in setting the world on fire
and watching from the centre
of the flames.)
“Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight. For the greatest tragedy of them all is never to feel the burning light.”
"They still write poems about you, you know?"
He looked at me strangely. "Why?"
I shrugged. "You were a tragedy. People love to dwell on those."
He smiled to himself. "There's nothing tragic about grasping what you want...
"Even if it's only for a moment."
- (last night, I dreamed of Icarus laughing)
To A Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph - by Anne Sexton
Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wintgs on,
testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade,
and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn
of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made!
There below are the trees, as awkward as camels;
and here are the shocked starlings pumping past
and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well:
larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast
of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings!
Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually
he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling
into that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea?
See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.
the sun / shining so bright / a lifetime of darkness / couldn't smother
a boy / flying so high / his wings collected dew / from the clouds
the sun / hair as golden / as the rays that / blinded all who-
a boy / dreams so wild the / gods called it arrogance / and sent him-
the sun / who screamed as / he watched himself / burn the one he loved
a boy / who smiled as / the water called him under / for he had still flown
One Heart by Li-Young Lee
💬 4 🔁 3 ❤️ 4 · icarus ·
i wonder how icarus felt when he was falling.
did the sky taste different when it betrayed him?
did the sun wh
