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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ICARUS by GRACE DENIO LITCHFIELD

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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