how do you know
you’re a phoenix
when you’re born from ashes?

naked and fragile
fallen out of the sky
into a grey abyss

without the memory
of what you are
closer to death than life

what is left
when you’ve left
your past behind?

when your identity
has been plugged from you
like your feathers

nothing
nothing but silence
and darkness

 

only a spark
beyond the realm of logic
one seed of fire survived

it survived through space and time
through evolution and history
to be here now, still

 

as the heritage of your ancestors
you carry the fire inside
you are living mythology

what’s left is not a memory of your past
not a plan for what you should become
it’s a direction

a path to follow
in this eternal, apparently pointless
cycle of life

but if you let go and walk the path
your purpose will unfold
like your wings

so,

if, from time to time
life gets too bright
and you can’t tell which way is wrong
and which way is right

then you know you’re a phoenix
cause you need the dark
to see the light
and then take flight
once more