The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. (1775). Daedalus and IcarusRetrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7fb507e0-fc78-0134-f7c4-00561795c945
The basement workshop
Holds gray light
From grime-streaked windows.
In the vise, drying
Wood, tempered.
Adherence matters.
Address the laws of nature
Or not.
Has it been inscribed that man
Shall not fly?
If I can imagine, I can do.
Later, after the vise is open,
Rough old hands—
Gnarled fingers, calloused thumbs—
Invoke the plan.
As thinnest canvas stretches
In the nearby corner
Strut by strut by joint by joist
And then again
And then again
And then the wax
Until two tapered shapes
Emerge.
And behind them, bags
That overflow with feathers
White, upwards drifting
Through the earthbound basement light
As the boy, standing
Watches, yearns
Untempered
Sure that he will reach
Beyond the stars.
If we knew the future
Would we yearn less?