I open my lungs
Wider and wider
As the sun-warmed air
Fans my inner fire.

We ignite in celebration
The incensed funeral pyre
So that we may become greater
Than our past’s failed desire.
Oh, it burns and burns
The fragrant bones of the dead,
Then rains down like feathers,
Ash upon our heads.

Amidst the rising smoke
Our eyes behold a figure,
A paragon with spreading wings.
We’ve not one moment to linger.

We empty our lungs
And dive toward the flames,
Some sacrifices burned alive,
But not burned in vain.

The rest of us breathe deep
Of the smoke imbued with light,
Filling our lungs to the bursting point
With this glorious Phoenix Flight.

Some stagger, some cough
As old minds are cast off,
They are dissolved in purifying plumes,
The world is now seen
In more beautiful hues.

The flames now dim to luminous coals
That flicker like stars
As the winds begin to roll.
We catch each other’s eyes,
Some gaze into the skies.
A feeling unspoken
But in each of us resides,
A shared dream of the future,
Evolution by and by.