There are no demigods... There are no demigods... There are...

written in May 1997

You must be
a star
I can't climb to you out there
Just as well...we're all warned when we're young
we'd go blind if we were
to stare at one up close
Like the Sun --
mildly bright when its rays are scattered...

I've never cared
to go where the light and heat are intense
So why am I drawn this time?
It doesn't matter -- I'm scared
to take chances with anything I wouldn't survive without
once I had it...

You must be a star --
You're way out of reach.


P.S. After my good friend Todd (the English professor) read this poem, he told me about the story from Greek mythology of Icarus, son of Daedalus. He also answered the question I posed asking myself why I was uncharacteristically drawn to the source of the intense light and heat... He said the answer is that I was "a moth who had just taken wing." He was exactly right.

And now I find myself once again feeling irresistably drawn to a radiant source that enlightens and warms me. But will my fate be the same as the moth's?

Something tells me that it will be more like the end met by Icarus. Only, when the fastening wax is melted and my flight feathers fall away, the sea I drown in will be made of tears.