The Eyes of the Phoenix

------------------ I ------------------

Have you seen the Phoenix rise,
Joy and sorrow in her burning eyes?
Heard her sing of love and grief,
Lifting you like a wind-blown leaf?

Have you wished with longing glance
To join her in celestial dance?
Dare you join her and thus deny
Safety and comfort to reach the sky?

Did you turn away, and call it wise
To seek judicious compromise?

------------------ II -------------------

Yet who knows: the Phoenix may yearn
For solid ground and gladly would learn
To wheel her wings in a stooping gyre
And seek a name for her heart's desire?

Yet more, who knows but unshaped dread
Stirs half-formed in her wild, proud head
And she fears how she burns for the distant earth
Lest burning she die, and dying give birth?

She soars away, wishing it wise
To seek judicious compromise.

------------------ III ------------------

God who made her knows 'tis best
That she should build her spice-filled nest
Which kindled burns with inner fire
Whose flames define her heart's desire.

But what use fire that burns the bones?
What use a nest if sat in alone?
Why should one burn, and dying rise?
Unless there be two to share the skies?

So I dare not call it wise
To seek judicious compromise.