A trusting Icarus’s sorry plight
His wings of freedom could not right
The lesson for feathers of pride
A lonely fall cannot be denied
It was not the treachery of the wind
But it was the sun that skinned
Wings off his back
As he plunged like a lead sack
The enormity of his feat
Would not find takers for a repeat
His name endures
Immortalized, unlike mine or yours
Mind yearns to be timeless
Even as the body loses attractiveness
When the bait of life is taken
That struggle cannot be shaken
Happiness is sadly mistaken
As a sign that life will be unshaken
Life may be a mountain, valley or a plain
Ultimately it is a game even if we choose to abstain
Played between fire and water
On a land that becomes an altar
Where the true nature of the mind is sacrificed
By thoughts which are spliced
From threads of the future and past
By themselves too weak to stand fast
But gathering strength when weaved together
Weighing down mind that’s light as a feather
With invisible shackles, making it too heavy to fly
Leaving it longing for the freedom of the sky
An island of sorts
With nine ports
Becomes home for a sojourn
A one way journey with no return
Everyone dreams of freedom’s wings
But fear cutting attachment’s strings
Hidden in the labyrinth of the mind
The beast is hard to find
Part human and part animal
Keeping us from seeing the supernatural
Through the vision of Daedalus
Large hearted and without malice
A perfect escape
Was secretly brought into shape
He was not the only prisoner
But a representative of every free commoner
Here now and those and yet to come
A rule that is not selective to some
Ornamental garb grabbed at birth
Is the chain that ties one to this earth
The eyes may see far
But cannot look into this jar
To solve that mystery, a middle man arrives
Oh what a lucky one, he always thrives
With an enchanting smile, there’s no sense of danger
But beware of this stranger
Who ultimately claims a tax
And is an expert at covering his tracks
Infecting our pure nature
With a promise to prop our stature
The walkway to freedom is forever shut
And the mind is diverted to a worldly rut
Leading to an unending journey between two stations
Where love and hate soon become one's relations
Those soft tracks between them harden with time
Transforming life into a mechanical mime
Conforming to many a forced pledge
Digging an even deeper wedge
Turning a level playing field into a maze
Finding the way costs life consuming delays
All in the name of a journey
That ultimately ends on a cold gurney
Very few learn from Daedalus’s guile
To fly out of the isle
While consciousness is still under one's direction
There’s hope for rising up in resurrection
Colors of life may then seem brighter than before
Without leaving stains on the mind’s floor
No longer a prisoner of life’s changing scene
Having paid off time’s lien
The flight to perfection
Isn’t given any protection
From thoughts that refuse a tempting slumber
Always on hand to encumber
Turning a smooth ride into an arduous climb
Made even more treacherous by memory’s thick slime
Before trapped wind is stripped away from flesh
Few realize how to grow out of this creche
Neither too high or too low
One must learn to fly solo
Prepared to be swept off the path by treacherous wind
Once committed, it’s hard to rescind
The limitation of this island prison
Becomes apparent even if one has only briefly risen
Going back may be a safe choice
But how does one silence the inner voice that says otherwise?
Emanating from the lighthouse of the soul
That cannot be seen from this fleshy atoll
Wings to freedom
Are held together by the glue of wisdom
That easily melts with pride
Of the heights achieved inside
The fall is into an unforgiving sea
Drowning out every plea
Daedalus leapt first
Proving that the chasm could be traversed
Icarus only had to follow
But his loftiness was something he couldn’t swallow
The lesson seared in time
Stick to the guide on the climb
When the summit is reached
The door of the soul is easily breached
- N. Seshadri
