This is a tale of hubris and lust,
The loss of a father that cannot be borne,
How brightly did my dear Son shine,
The foolish whimsy of a bull and Queen,
My son reduced to the brine.

Daedalus am I,
A man who faithfully served the Cretan King,
A dreadful progeny did his wife create,
For my master a maze I did make,
To capture the creature and keep Crete safe.

Faithless Minos, feckless and untrue,
Chained me to my own design; my Son and I caught inside,
A master craftsman that I was, a looked at a bird
and inspiration took flight,
The frame and wings elevated me and god like I could soar;
To escape the prison of the Minotaur.

To my beloved Son I said;
Not too low and not too high, otherwise you will no longer fly,
The wings we donned and off we fled.

We felt like gods looking down on man,
Crete was aft and Samos was but a rock in a sea of shining blue,
Apollo caught a glint of sun shining from my feathered Son,
Only Gods should fly and man must obey and deify; opined Apollo to his Olympian friends,
Apollo’s displeasure did melt my Son’s wax and he bravely struggled until he could no more flap,
Oh father help me, what can I do, shrieked Icarus as he plummeted down,
To be captured by Poseidon
and there he did drown!

Helplessly I looked on, rent asunder my life’s blood gone,
Do your worst to Apollo I said, let me rest with my son,
The Anemoi heard my cry and capriciously blew me forth; Boreas he of the North.

In Sicily I did land, King Cocalus and his daughters extended their hand,
With the Gods I made my peace, a temple for Apollo I did build,
Yet a spiral seashell gave me away and vengeful Minos came for me,
Hubris is a two faced god and this time I did not pay,
The Cretan King’s bones you can still see, nourishing the fair Isle of Sicily.

Athena took pity on me and a winged man I became.

In time Cronus and a scythe came to look for me,
I therefore spread my wings and made my last flight to the Samian sea,
I spotted an Isle near the watery grave and called it Icaria after my son so brave,
Their a Sanctuary I did build, so my Son would forever live,
His Temple now faces to the Sun and Apollo smiles on,
I laid myself to rest, complete and happy now in death.