Daedalus on Crete lyrics

But now the family disgrace had grown up
And its mother's sordid adultery was revealed
In the strange hybrid monster. Minos intended
To remove this shame from his chambers and enclose it
In a dark, winding labyrinth. Daedalus,
A renowned master architect, did the work,
Confounding the usual lines of sight
With a maze of conflicting passageways.
Just as the Maeander plays in Phrygian fields,
Flowing back and forth and winding around
In its ambiguous course so that sometimes it sees
Its own waters flowing toward it, and flows itself
Now back toward its source, now toward the sea
So Daedalus made all thosе passageways wander,
And he himsеlf had a hard time finding his way
Back to the entrance of the deceptive building.

After Minos had shut up the Minotaur there
He fed him twice on Athenian blood,
Once every nine years. But the third tribute
Of Athenian youths was the creature's undoing,
And when Theseus, with Ariadne's help,
Found his way back to the difficult entrance-
Which no previous hero had ever done
By winding up the thread, he took Minos' daughter
And sailed for Dia, and then abandoned her
On that island's shore. Marooned and reciting
A litany of complaints, she received the aid
And love of Bacchus, and so that she might shine
Among the eternal stars, he took the tiara
That circled her brow and sent it of to the sky.
It flew through the thin air, and as it flew
Its gemstones were changed into gleaming fires
That found their place, still in the shape of a Crown,
Between Ophiouchus' and Hercules' stars.
Daedalus, meanwhile, hating his long exile
In Crete, and longing for the place of his birth,
Was locked in by the sea. "He may block
Land and sea," he said, "but the sky is open;
We will go that way. Minos may own everything,
But he does not own the air." And turning his mind
Toward unknown arts, he transformed nature.
Spreading out feathers, he arranged them in order
From shortest to longest, as if climbing a slope,
The way reeds once rose into a panpipe's shape.
Then he bound the midline of the quills with thread
And the ends with wax, and bent the formation
Into a slight curve, imitating a real bird's wing.
His son Icarus stood at his side, and, unaware
That he was touching his peril, the beaming boy
Would try to catch feathers blown by the breeze,
Or would knead the yellow wax with his thumb
And as he played generally get in the way
Of his genius father at work. When he had put
The finishing touches on his craft, the artisan
Suspended himself between two identical wings,
And his body hovered in the moving air.

Then he equipped his son, saying, "Stay in the middle,
Icarus. I warn you, if you go lower
The water will weigh down the feathers; higher,
The sun's heat will scorch them. Fly in between,
And don't gawk at Boötes, the Dipper,
Or the sword of Orion! Pick out your path
By following me." He gave him flying instructions
While fitting the unfamiliar wings to his shoulders,
And what with the work and the admonitions
His old cheeks grew moist, and his father's hands trembled.
He kissed his dear son, a kiss never to be repeated,
And rising on wings he flies ahead in fear
For his companion-like a bird who leads
Its tender young into the air from its aerial nest
Urging him to follow, teaching him ruinous arts,
And beating his own wings as he looks back at his son.
A fisherman with a trembling rod sees them,
Or a shepherd leaning on his staff, or a plowman,
They gape at these beings negotiating the air
And take them for gods. Juno's isle Samos
Is now on the left (Delos and Paros are long gone)
And on the right are Lebinthos and honeyed Calymne,
When the boy begins to enjoy this daring flight
And veers off from his leader. He is drawn to the sky
And goes higher. Proximity to the blazing sun
Softens the scented wax that bound the feathers,
And the wax melts. He beats his naked arms
But lacking plumage cannot purchase air,
And his mouth was shouting his father's name
When the blue water, which takes its name from his,
Closed over the boy. His bereft father,
A father no more, cried "Icarus, where are you,
Icarus, where should I look for you?" and kept calling, "Icarus."
Then he saw the feathers in the waves.
He swore off his arts and buried the body,
And the land is known by the name on the tomb.