Icarus and Daedalus

Poor father Daedalus
Was blessed with Icarus,
And what a fool of a son was he.
Such an ingenious inventor
And scientist for a father,
He blamed it on his mother’s genes.

Both caught one day
In a place far away
From the family’s hearth and home,
While Daedalus worked,
Icarus sat and jerked,
Crying on a mossy stone.

But Daedalus did it
To escape prison Crete
He made wings for him and his son.
“We’ll fly from this lair,
We’ll get away from here,
And in doing so we’ll have some fun.”

Icarus wiped his tears
Leaving sad little smears
All over his potato face.
He strapped on the wings,
Those beautiful things,
To win the deadly race.

Daedalus warned: “Do not
Fly high or you’ll be caught
In the rays of Helios’ sun.
The wings will melt
And the deal will be dealt
Between the Fates and Kronos’ son.”

But the foolish boy
Only thought of the toys
And thus doomed himself to die,
For the wings were overdone
In the fire of the sun,
And Icarus fell faster than he could fly.

Let this be a moral to young boys all
Who do not heed their fathers’ warning:
Listen first, then obey
If you truly wish to stay
To see another morning.