#this poem rings very strongly ot4 for me and it's gorgeous

[halestrom]

what if the sun fell in love with icarus? (maybe apollo caught sight of the boy, sun-streaked skin glowing gilded, feathers fluttering like slain daydreams, moth-bitten promises half-remembered something lovely in his fallibility.)

what if icarus fell in love with the ocean? (maybe he dreamt of her salt-soaked kisses, softness dotting his body like constellations. fingers laced in his hair like a crown for a broken king. a gentle swan song, a chilly numbness of unremembrance.)

what if icarus turned away from the sun? (maybe apollo blazed infernos with the bitter sting of humiliation. singed off feathers one by one, thrust him into the frigid embrace of an ocean that would sooner kill than love back: a lesson to mortals who dare defy the gods.)

— DIVINE RETRIBUTION BY ARLEN C