Sorrowful Icarus Poem by Raj Dronamraju

Like many women throughout history, she was compared to the sun
And I was a shallower Icarus whose heart melted from attempted closeness
My mistake was to defy an order which imposes itself on all of us

My mistake is made from wax and hollow bravado masquerading as conversation
And to live in a time of unequal equality
And inventions that make life harder not easier

My mistake was to step outside of a role forced on us
And to drop from a great height
Recovering on a futon
In a room eternity denied a future to
The same sense of loneliness as an estate with echoing marble floors, only one set of footfalls can be heard
But instead taking place in a grubby studio apartment