The light that drowned Icarus,

when his freedom he found,

was the sweetest ignorance

that sent him to ground

I was the quiet water

the dark and silent receiver

I was the waves on fire

when his body was found

Damp wax and melted feathers

Gold like a sun half-downed

Heat-struck he bore the clangour

of the waves’ unearthly sound

My vanity and laughter

presided over his slaughter

I was the god Apollo

who sent him to the ground