Icarus Rewritten Poem by Sean McDowell

I would have followed his arc
through the heavens, shrugged off the warnings of my father
and crossed into the vastness of the world,
but I would have left him
in his plunge into the Aegean. I would have driven
my melting wings unbent into the sun
with the depth of my need––

––only then could I hope to return unto your skin
proven: a warrior,
that having grated through the iciness of space,
charged the ferocity of supernovae,
stormed the atmospheres of Neptune, Venus,
even Mars himself––
a warrior that, after countless years and unrelenting conflict,
could still be born again
as the spear of light that refracts into color
off the tint of your eyes.

Only then could there be no turning back––
with the Sun overhead,
27 million degrees immortal, each binding you and I.