A. E. Stallings, Daedal

Small bronze sculpture of Daedalus, 3rd century BC
found on Plaošnik, Republic of North Macedonia
photo by Petre Stojkovski
(image source: wiki)
no copyright infringement intended

Read it, then come back and listen to the recording. It is amazing.

To build a labyrinth it takes

A twisted mind, a puzzled art,

A fractal branching of mistakes.

Drag out the shovels and the rakes,

The spirit level, sacred chart.

To build a labyrinth it takes

Shadows, stones, a way that snakes

And ladders to its shaky start;

An average mazing of mistakes,

The kind that everybody makes,

Set random intervals apart.

To build a labyrinth it takes

Dead ends that seem like lucky breaks,

The paths of bats that weave and dart

Through limestone caverns of mistakes.

The shaken Etch A Sketch awakes

A lost child buried in its heart.

To build a labyrinth it takes

Some good intentions, some mistakes.

(source: Poetry, May 2020)

(A. E. Stallings)