The Fall of Phaethon

Cursed descendant of Helios
Bound by a sacred oath
Heeding no admonition
Denies his mortal condition

The daring youth
Demands to ride his father's chariot

Ignoring his mortality
And lack of judgment

Grasping the reins of the fiery steeds
Unaware of the tragic fate to descend upon him

Not even Zeus, Olympian ruler
Showed such audacity
For only one, the solar deity
The great car could control

The daring youth
Attempts to ride his father's chariot

For the first and last time
Phaethon is to ascend
And fall
And fall

In an impetuous rush
Scorched the earth beneath
And the celestial abode above

Aware of his mortality
And lack of judgment

Charred by the ride with the fiery steeds
In horror he beholds the receding Earth
Through heights and chasms the chariot errs
A path of destruction – its end is now near

For the first and last time
Phaeton now takes his plunge
Fulminated by lightning
As the sky turns black