Dress Rehearsal for the Sun (Icarus)

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Your father
built the wings
because your father
was the engineer
and engineers
build the thing
and write the manual
and hand it
to the boy
and the manual said
*not too low
because the sea
will wet the feathers
and not too high
because the sun
will melt the wax*
and the manual
was correct
and you
were not
an engineer
and the space
between the sea
and the sun
tasted like
the warm
sticky resin
of a decision
that has already
been made
by the body
before
the mind
has finished
reading
the manual.

[Verse 2]
The dopaminergic circuit
of a boy
who has just
discovered
he can fly
does not
consult
the manual.
The dopaminergic circuit
of a boy
who has just
discovered
he can fly
consults
the sun.

[Chorus]
You flew higher
because higher
was where
the flying
was better
and the wax
was not
the point
and the sun
was not
the point
and the falling
was not
the point.
The point
was the ten seconds
between
the wax
letting go
and the water
arriving
when you were
still flying
and no longer
attached
to the wings
and the ten seconds
were the first time
in your life
you were
not following
a manual
you had not
written
and the ten seconds
were yours.

[Outro]
Your father
landed
safely
on the far shore
carrying
the correct
manual
and the correct
altitude
and the correct
grief
and the sea
that swallowed you
was named
after you
and not
after him
because
the sea
does not
remember
the man
who followed
the instructions.
The sea
remembers
the boy
who found out
what the sun
was for.

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