Seabird (For Meritxell) Poem by Charl JF Cilliers

Has anyone ever told
you the fable of the flight
of a bird of red and gold
from morning into night?

It rose up from the dawn
and flew across the sky
from the place where it was born
to the place where it would die.

In a nest of fire and smoke
it settled down to sleep,
then in the ashes woke
and soared up from the deep.

So now you have been told
how every single dawn
that bird of red and gold,
the Phoenix, is reborn.