O, I anointed my flesh with the chrism of ambition, Yet seraphim damned me, forced into submission. Gossamer delusions saturate my memoirs, Each promise, a covenant, spurned by the stars. I drank deep from the chalice of "nearly" and "almost," Its nectar betrayed me, left me pining, engrossed. For hope dons her vestments, yet hides her wicked blade, A sanguine reprisal for daring to seek accolade. The world now recoils as I ascend to greater heights. How fate bares its fangs, with the zenith in sight. O name me Icarus! The paramour of flame, Wed to the sun that only curses my name. My wings shed their oaths in coruscating rain, As victory and loss lie entwined all the same. I fall like a hymn torn loose from belief. My glory now whimpers, recounting my grief. O architect of hubris and fetid limitation, I claw and I scratch, defiance through ablation. But what use is humility, if life prods with its brand? Time spent genuflecting, only earns crumbs from command. I scaled every summit, my doubt shackled to me, Each breath, a rebellion, a blow to adversity. My dreams I embrace with a lover's regard, But I lie refused, the gates of Eden now barred. Let my sweat be my testimony... Let my scars be my confession... Let my effort be damned, for its foul transgression! I tasted the fire of Prometheus... I was answered in kind... Destiny sent its vultures, my aspiration maligned! O name me Icarus! My scripture now undone! A psalm penned for striving, then erased by the sun! Desire tattooed on me like ceremonial skin, And heaven has flayed me for daring to win. If triumph's an ember that devours the brave, Then I carry its embers, to my rotten grave! Beneath solar majesty, I struggle with all my might, I sink with my vision, still fixed on its height. Better to burn brightly, than to fade away, For even in falling, I cast my mark on life's play. O name me Icarus!
