The poet is inspired by Peter Bruegel's painting.

No plow stops for the man who dies
as in a painting of the fall of Icarus
the fisherman casts, the shepherd leads
the plowman carves his furrows
while in the bay a boy’s legs flail
and sailors mend the canvas that
they might have used to wrap him.

Now the waves have won.
Shroud his sinking feet
water melting dusting snow of falling
feathers weighted by molten wax
--above in clouds
wanes the shadow
of a father
flying west.