If I am to be Icarus

Alaina Kimble

High School Freshman

April/May 2023

If I am to be Icarus

I've been soaring since the day I leapt

high above the silver-lined clouds

With not a glimpse of the world below.

For one day, as the fable so tragically predicts

I ascended too close to the sun

wanting to touch its glory

and to know its name

only to be burnt

and fall

to the earth I didn't remember was there.

But as time passed

I began to fall again:

Fall in love.

with the life and love flourishing within

I had never known the world could be so beautiful

until I saw it up close

after the tragedy of the sun

with my wax wings around me, disheveled.

So if I am to be Icarus,

then my wings are my boughs of confidence,

and the sun is someone never to be loved,

and the world is you,

in all your beauty,

whom I have finally found

and held with pride

Discarding my waxen wings

and embracing the world

as I embrace you