Landscape with the
Fall of Icarus
William Carlos Williams
According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring
when Icarus fell
it was spring
a farmer was ploughing
his field
the whole pageantry
his field
the whole pageantry
of the year was
awake tingling
near
awake tingling
near
the edge of the sea
concerned
with itself
concerned
with itself
sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings’ wax
that melted
the wings’ wax
unsignificantly
off the coast
there was
off the coast
there was
a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning
this was
Icarus drowning
Musée des Beaux Arts
(excerpt)
W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns
away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
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