It lay there motionless
As if it were already dead
That great bird of many thousand years,
Brought to our eyes endless streams of tears
In remorse, we all covered our faces
For it was the finest ever bred.

The sun in cooperation rained down its rays
Then ignited flames about her to incinerate
Thus honoring a lifetime of endless frays
And leaving us mortal men to contemplate
Away went her life as if out of a lash
And all that was left, was a pile of ash.

But what we saw next amazed us;
A strange wind moving the ash
A clatter, then a cacophony
An eternal cry of seeming agony
The old passing on the spirit to the new
An eternal phoenix rising anew!