Daedalus

No stirring song was
ever sung about

him. Poets left us
mean detail, forgot

each meticulous
feather's measured knot,

each bowed wing's cautious
bending, tidy strut's

fixed, fastidious
conduct; forgot route

vouching blind sea, fuss
with veer, drop; forgot

each prudent excess,
strict, passionate doubt.

Copyright © 2004 Hailey Leithauser All rights reserved
from New Orleans Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission