Icarus’s Shadow

I was told that beyond the city
There are fields of green;
And for days I’ve been walking
To where I squandered my dreams,
Where I come so close to the cream.

Seems like everywhere I look
People are filing for cover.
It’s an eggshell thirst that
Separates the primal from progression
Savour the design to affect another.

And who put all these buildings here?
I should find where they go.
I mean, what’s the difference
When you’re all alone,
You’re lost and humbled in life’s drone.

I met a figure sitting lakeside,
Lost in the science of May –
Two swans cast in the sun
‘I should put cannonballs in my pockets
And dream up a summer’s day.’

Sun-strokes spidered on the water.
I felt awed pitying the short drop,
Swithering on this crack –
I’ll play my heart to see the flop;
Oscillating just shy from the top.

I’m standing under Icarus’s shadow
Where this question tries:
Is my freedom in the sky?
Or the land, on the horizon
Where the people lie?

Gareth Hicks