Icarus Comes of Age

(circa 1965)

A fledgling eagle hit the wind,
His wings unsure, he fluttered, faltered,
'Til he grew them straight and strong.

And then he parted air,
As he'd been born to do,
As a young boy parts his hair.

Smug and sure and self-secure,
He rose in the noon-day sun,
And screamed with ecstasy
To kiss a cloud,
He and the sky were one,
And the earth was far below.

"This moment's all there is!",
He thought.
He couldn't know.
And all too soon he reached a star,
He thought.

He went too far,
And all too soon he fell to earth but then,
"The moment's all that matters!",
So he thought.

He never flew again.
He just remembers.

- Sitaram