Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ICARUS, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ICARUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas a beautiful morning in spring
Last Line: When their darling was ravished away.
Subject(s): Icarus; Mythology - Classical


'TWAS a beautiful morning in Spring,
Bud and blossom were everywhere,
Glad youth, on its newly-tried wing,
Blithe renewal on earth and in air.

And one immature fledgling had come,
Enfranchised that day from the nest,
Like our children who, parting from home,
Fly far to the East or the West.

What a spreading of fluttering wings!
What chirpings, what pride in their child!
As, forgetting terrestrial things,
The parents for gladness grow wild.

'Tis a lesson in flight, they essay,
As, led by the teaching of love,
The feeble wings flutter away,
The weak limbs endeavour to move.

Now before and above him they dart,
With short flights and encouraging calls;
Now the poor pupil harmlessly falls,
Engrossed in his half-attained art.

And the neighbours and gossips, who sit
On the twigs of the bushes around,
Join the clamorous chorus and flit
Up and down 'twixt their seats and the ground.

Long lasted the lesson. At length
Those feeble wings tempted the air
Full a yard, in their newly found strength!
You had thought they had Icarus there!

Such chirpings, such shouts of applause!
Such a chorus of innocent glee!
Unconscious that under the tree
Crept a monster with pitiless jaws.

Quick! a flash and a dart and a spring,
And the learner, with terror-choked breath,
Sharp pain, and a profitless wing,
Is snatched by the spoiler to death.

Was it Nature that doomed him? Why, then,
Did I start from my place in pursuit,
Forgetting the usage of men,
More brutal by far than the brute?

Vain chase! O'er a neighbouring wall,
They vanish; yet somehow to-day
I hear the poor parents' sad call,
When their darling was ravished away.





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