Aside, astride the phoenix

Written by the poet to a young woman who dared to venture close in a season of healing.

Aside, astride the phoenix

bid me enter to your sphere
but tell not the world as I draw near
that I have come to meet you here -
aside, astride the phoenix.

speak me not the shallow myths
of words that fell from ancient cliffs
to fill the valleys, full of glyphs
of warning, warding, wonder.

behold my breath, it burns the wind,
that whips through fields where lovers twinned
and bade brave bliss for sinners skinned
to feel each healing heartbeat.

that you have dared is proof enough
that you are made of earnest stuff -
cuir boulli, smooth and tough,
to shield the unhealed warrior.

enter freely, of your will,
that you may share in what we spill
then gather up, to drink our fill
of the flooded blood of passions.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.