Le Mythe d'Icare (Myth of Icarus)

/1/

The Pantheon was in ruins, much like contemporary Greece hit by inflation. But I will tell you again, about Ancient Greece: Homer; Diogenes of Synope; Thales of Miletus; Xenophanes of Colophon; Alcmaeon of Croton; Zeno of Elea; Tyrtaeus of Sparta; Archilochos of Paros; Solon from Athens.

/2/

I will retell, romance: Hipponax of Ephesus; Stesichoros of Hymnera; Sappho from Mytilene; Anachreon of Theos; Pindar from Thebes; Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Alkaios, Mytilene, Aesop, Hesiod, Herodotus, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Menander, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras to the Greek figures that were never thought to exist.

/3/

Oh dear, how we and Greek Mythology were once truly alive, truly lit and then extinguished—after that, Sisyphus stopped pushing the stone—after that, Apollo dissolved into tears and drowned Dionysus and his drunkenness.

/4/

After that, the sky above the valiant Zeus suddenly collapsed—the calm seas in the midst of Poseidon, sunk—the underworld beneath Hades slowly crawled on without a trace.

/5/

In the darkness of the earth, like a flower, the light withers just above its own stalk. While the Daffodil Flower marks a rebirth. Once again, Hiraeth is lost in your glazed eyes; like a traveler who doesn't want to leave.

/6/

After that, the Iris of Elysium falls in the spring, fading the symposium and time—after that, the fire that Prometheus had stolen was lost like Atlantis—which was written by Plato in the legendary books Timaeus and Critias.

/7/

It may be true, however, that some cities were lost—too beautiful to be rediscovered. It may also be true, it turns out that some things are too perfect to be real on earth.

/8/

But is there a spring for my tears that flow, then flood the pool where Narcissus drowned and his own obsession? From Athens to Crete, the moon shone on Sparta's victory. With wax and feathers, I defy fate and gravity.

/9/

O my dear, in the last remaining seconds of my time—I play a nostalgic record: Flying towards the capital city of your heart is a deliberate fall.

/10/

And in the end, everything that begins must have an end—at the end of this poem, I just want to say: that I love you more than I love Greece with all its mythology; the smell of salt in the Aegean seas; sunshine, my downfall and myself.

(2021)