The Phoenix

A phoenix crawls from ashes of ruin;

The remains of a bloody war

With an origin so human

As jealous cravings at the core.

Soft and beaten whimpers escape

From the lonely, broken-winged beast

As the emptiness takes its shape;

Completely bare from west to east.

Once, the skies were blue. With white clouds.

With the sun's promising presence.

Shadows were playful, not dark shrouds,

And they have, so, lost their essence.

The phoenix, a warrior bird,

Trembles against the barren land

And, though he utters not a word,

Cries out for every loss of man.

Stumbling from his sooty nest,

He crosses the dead battlefield;

Heartbeat slow in his fragile chest.

The fate of man seems to be sealed

And a tear falls each blackened night.

The phoenix ages to his prime

Alone in a world of no light,

Yet he waits. For he knows a time

Will come. He will be found again.

One is naught without the other.

One will run until the time when

They need help; a friend. A brother.

As sure as the moon lifts and falls,

The bird grows old and, with weak knees,

He torpidly begins to crawl

To the shade of a Jujube tree.

Days of waiting in thirst pass by

Until a broken man appears;

Falling to his knees with a cry

As he seeks solace from his fears.

The man reaches his arms ahead,

Overwhelmed by his emotion;

Despairing in rueful regret

Of how he left his devotion

In selfish, reckless abandon.

The tree shakes free its jagged thorns,

The bird stands to his companion,

And as the fire starts to burn

His form flickers from bird to man.

As the two beings lock their eyes,

A calm passes over the land.

The Phoenix grants himself to die.

The ashes encircle the man

As he tilts his head to heaven

Extending out as a wingspan.

He breathes in the new gift of strength

And moves on; Forward from the tree,

Knowing he is never alone.

Knowing to follow his journey

Until the Phoenix calls him home.

Reviews

[Lovecraft]

Wow, very good. I love the concept of the Phoenix. Death and Rebirth. The Phoenix should travel to Egypt to bury the ashes of the previous one, lol.
One of the better poems I've seen in a while.

[Will]

That last stanza really hits hard. I really liked the meter throughout, great piece :)