Icarus -

Gazing at the sun

From the ocean floor

Unable to breathe

Can’t be sure if I need to

Your wings, now rotten scabs

That you need to keep damp

I made a choice, now the tethers burn my skin

Why does my blood run cold?

Bereft of air we’re sinking further

Habituating, you say you feel it

Getting warmer…

But I can’t feel a thing

Here on the ocean floor

I can see its light (through the water)

I cannot feel the warmth (it radiates)

Sympathy is spent

I learnt to hear the cold (through your eyes)

A silence so intense

Stifles our words of denial and contempt

As we dive down through the sun

A thousand miles from shore

I cannot fucking breathe

Can’t be sure if I need to

Need to…

My neck jerks without warning we surface

No time to decompress

No time to decompress

But you stumble back towards the edge

You leap, I follow

Together we dive

down…

The ocean is your sky

Into which you soar

All you see in the surface is the sun’s and your

Reflection

Down here if I dream, I dream of sleep

And I can’t feel temperature anymore

And I think I could float suspended for days

days…

My neck jerks without warning we surface

No time to decompress

No time to decompress

But you stumble back towards the edge

You leap, I follow

Together we dive

down…

The ocean is your sky

Into which you soar

All you see in the surface is the sun’s and your reflection

(Won't you) let me drown

Or let me breathe…

These tethers have become

Waterlogged and rusted to

Keep you smiling

Compassion beaten down

My hopeless anchor

Daedalus, for all he tried,

Forewarnings forever

Fell upon deaf ears

Icarus you are deceived

Your wings turn to roots

Clutch at the sand now and take shape

In the place that holds you down

Just a word of comfort

You will never drown

Icarus you are alone and always have been

So why am I here?

The ocean is your sky

Into which you soar

All you see is the surface