The Phoenix
Phoenix
I rise out of the flames.
I, the Phoenix
I see my burning embers glow
But that I am no longer
My metallic wings reflect
the sun and the fiery flames
I am one with the fire
I soar up
And feel the air rush against me
I know what it is like to die
For I am life
As I age
As I become worn
My wings become tattered
My luster is leaving
I know soon
I must begin again
But not yet
I, thought beautiful and powerful
as the fire,
am tired
I wish to rest
Soon I will
Soon I will continue the cycle
I the Phoenix
living only to die
and dying only to live
Again
The Phoenix
The Myth
The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death. In ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, it is associated with the sun god.
According to the Greeks, the bird lives in Arabia, near a cool well. Every morning at dawn, the sun god would stop his chariot to listen to the bird sing a beautiful song while it bathed in the well.
Only one phoenix exists at a time. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would build a nest of aromatic wood and set it on fire. The bird then was consumed by the flames.
A new phoenix sprang forth from the pyre. It embalmed the ashes of its predecessor in an egg of myrrh and flew with it to Heliopolis, "city of the sun," where the egg was deposited on the altar of the sun god. In Egypt, it was usually depicted as a heron, but in the classic literature as a peacock or an eagle.