Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ICARUS, by GRACE DENIO LITCHFIELD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ICARUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Bind on thy wings, o soul! Their eagle flight
Last Line: A wingless lifetime on the level earth?
Subject(s): Icarus; Mythology - Classical


BIND on thy wings, O Soul! Their eagle flight
Shall lift thee to the Sun. For but one hour
Glory, thou too, in superhuman power.
Enraptured soar to Hope's extremest height;
Confront unblenching the supernal light;
Forget thine insufficiency of dower,
And quicken all thy being into flower
Ere blasted by intolerable Might.
What though thou perish in the self-same breath
That numbers thee mid Heaven's effulgent host?
What though thy victory's award be death,
If, dying, thou attain thine uttermost?
Were not that brief immortal moment worth
A wingless lifetime on the level Earth?





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