"The Goodnight" by Louis Simpson (poetry reading)

This tender poem was published in The New Yorker in 1959.

Laocoon annoyed Minerva, who sent sea-serpents to crush him and his two sons. There's a famous sculpture in the Vatican, others in Rome, Florence and a few other places.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laocoon

Icarus' father, Daedalus, made wings for them of feathers and wax, but Icarus ignored warnings, flew too close to the sun and was killed. There are variants but they make the same point: Icarus died from his father's carelessness. (Or from his own audacity and disobedience depending on whose point-of-view you take).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus

There's a story from buddhism about a man who is distraught with grief because his little boy has died. He asks the sage for understanding. The sage replies, "It is true, father, from what is dear comes hurt and misery, anguish and despair, which comes from what is dear."

The Sleeping Child was painted in about 1600 by Bernardo Strozzi, the Genoese Baroque artist. The bracelets were meant to protect the sleeping child from evils.

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