Phonenix

Where did you run to

when the living got too hard

when being close

burned you up with a fear

that took you into the flames

of course you ran

into the fire

and got yourself burned

living like the phoenix

before the transformation

knowing only ashes

that remained

after the fire died

down

alcohol and drugs

were a killing fire too

that bled out all colour

from your soul

and yet the fire

was also

your place of rebirth

though a funeral pyre

a painful death

hard

lonely

and bitter too

Last week

you read to me

from the Book of the Dead

these words

“I will live forever

in the fire

spun from my own wings

I’ll suffer burns

that burn to heal

To know the fire

I become the fire”

My soul did a leap of joy

of recognition

I ran into the fire

I became the fire

And as I enfolded myself

In the petals of the flames

After long years

I emerged

the Phoenix