‘Daedalus’ and Other Poetry by Morrison Handley-Schachler

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Daedalus

Icarus, you have disobeyed,
As all men do, and dearly paid.
Too recklessly your heart did fly
Between high seas and louring sky.
The wings I gave you, it is true,
But what would you have had me do?
No hand does good, no heart loves well
Constrained within a prison cell,
Unable all its lifetime long
To do its neighbour any wrong
Or play the idiot and be
Ruined in its stupidity,
By labyrinth and statute hemmed,
Walled off from folly and condemned
To circle through a soulless maze
In thoughtless wisdom all its days.
I gave you life and gave you power
To soar from virtue’s marble bower
Into a wider space designed
By your own great or feeble mind
And, though your paths I sought to guide,
On your own wings I let you glide.
Your fall bereaves me but I know
That you die free. I made you so.

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Commerce and Jurisprudence

“Love,” trilled the man of commerce, “No-one could
Praise you enough. For you men toil and sweat,
Then spend their wages twice and, lashed by debt,
Must labour harder. Be it understood
That from you every service, every good
And every profit stems. What gains are missed
In Love’s neglect! If Love did not exist
Would I invent it? Yes, of course I would.”
“And so an idol craft,” the jurist sighed,
“That summons treachery and fratricide,
When man the demon finds it fun to play
At Love for one short week or just one day.
Love’s mere pretence brings grief and mischief and
If Love existed I would have it banned.”

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Morrison Handley-Schachler is a Chartered Public Finance Accountant and Lecturer in Accounting. He has a doctorate in Ancient History and has published articles on ancient Persian history, accounting history, financial crime, auditing and financial risk management. He lives in South Queensferry, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland.