According to Brueghel
When Icarus fell
it was Spring.
A farmer was ploughing his field
The whole pageantry of the year
was tingling near
The edge of the sea
concerned with itself
Sweating in the sun
that melted the wings’ wax
Insignificantly off the coast
There was a splash quite unnoticed
This was Icarus drowning.
—William Carlos Williams, The Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
(“Landscape with the Fall of Icarus,” painting in oil on canvas)
