A World Moves On

Poetic reflection on 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'

Pieter Breughel the Elder ca.1560

Icarus Starts with I

I, as no one noticed,

Unrehearsed, premature, tumbled to

Oblivion. Delicate ships sailed toward

Distant harbors ignoring the falling body.

Plowmen leisurely lifted loam acre by acre

Focused on fecundity and funding. Indifferent

Sun lit happy and sad alike. Even

Imperiled others aloft plied a shared

If fateful journey toward

Watery deeps and took no note.

I, watching in a human position,

Plunged to that grasping green expanse searching out a

Single pointed finger, alarming shout, a

Gathering hush to cushion my fall…but

A world moved on, timeless trivia the

Engine and oxygen of Heaven and Earth.

I, meeting that long-waited encounter with

Altitude’s end — a sudden final page — I

Hoped against hope to garner, if only a

Small token, the chute of

Another’s astonished glance. Leisured totality

Turned away told me all.

I…with unrehearsed and startled

Falling, despite hard ground’s alarm

Like paneled lights that once

Grabbed attention, I reacted as trained: I

Focused on the fall, not my role in it.

Thanks to David Keplinger for the inspiration, and to WH Auden as well.