Orbituary

Icarus
was an invention

yet
some would still
take flight and fly
on home-made wings
even closer
to Heaven’s
eye

then
too close
for comfort
fall to earth
again

and yet
some would still
deny gravity resent it
struggle to be free of it
break its surly bonds

and
still find
themselves alone
wandering aimlessly
like darkened comets
dirty ice lost in space
as free as death

© BH, 2019

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Following on from Perihelion, published on Poetry24, this poem pursues the orbital theme beyond seasonality. Maybe there’s a Brexit resonance here too. The balance we strike between independence and dependence - too close is as foolish as to distant. The cosmos has it about right in my estimation - interdependence and deceptively complex laws of motion.

By the way, the thrilogy is Perihelion | Orbituary | Assumption…