Like Icarus

I heard the birds cry out as you ripped through the sky,
I heard them say your name.
I drew in a breath,
and the earth, I swear it moved.
Patiently waiting for you to pass by,
I can't wait to ruin you.

You broke through the clouds-
I can see you now,
released from years of captivity.
Feathers and wax were a father's means
to make a way for you.
For a shot at a new life, he made you wings;
and this new life, it screams
all around you.
From deep inside you, it cries out,
and I can hear you in the wind; it sings.

Once freed, you were given boundaries-
"Don't fly too high, stay away from the sun."
But your taste for adventure took control of you,
and I smile because I've seen this before.
I know your kind, always wanting more;
So you flew higher, and the sun was hot.
Now your arms are coated with melted wax,
and you're falling-
You fall hard and fast.
I get to watch the panic in your face.
I sense your fear and I won't hesitate;
so stretch out your arms and accept your fate-
A hard, dark body of blue...
you know what waits for you.

Cold, deep and unforgiving,
I'll swallow you up if you give me the chance.
I'll destroy your faith
and make you wear your broken crown.
Tell me how it felt to be captured,
and I'll tell you how it felt to pull you down.
Relinquish your cries for help.
Everyone has better things to do
than waste their time trying to rescue you.
But they might stop to watch you drown.

They'll stop everything to witness tragedy.
They'll watch as I pound into your flesh.
They'll watch and laugh as I pour into your lungs,
and they'll be thinking all the while, "Better you than me."

I'll carry you, weak and bleeding
to the rocky cliffs on the shore,
just to watch your face as I pitch you to the jagged rocks;
We've gone through this before.
I let them have you for a while
before I take your broken body, limp from exhaustion,
and I tell you, "Ask for mercy."

Glaring, you tell me, "I'll die first."
I can deal with that.
I'm bored with you now, anyway,
I'd rather you beg than talk to me that way.
So I pull you down deep.
I watch you twitch and fight
until you become still;
Your lifeless body is beautiful to me;
delicate, floating so gracefully.
Your eyes are still open;
I've never seen anything so lovely-
piercing and blue-
they'll haunt me for the way I tortured you.

I watch you sink,
and you're out of my sight.
Now I turn to the sky,
once again waiting-
always waiting;
Waiting for someone else to fly too high,
they always do.
There's always someone just like you.

-Lo-