Thou Lovest Well Remains (The Phoenix or the Flame)

it's what we do with these violent days
our passions we carry
torch weapon
blaze pilot
fight for us give guidance 
that renders us Phoenix or dead duck. 
the alchemy of corporeal combustion, the spirit of the air sustaining our parachute lungs 
can either fan the flame or extinguish all experience 
in a gust. it's up to us, stars and ashes 
and you and i
are all the same, what thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross. 
if we see ashes only 
at the end of each candle's calendar
we will not live bright lives for burning is Being 
an evanescing glow
refining and reducing 
to rarefy for flight
only in the using up 
do lesser shadow selves
die in the presence of
the dross-less bird 
of ever brand-new light

-Lindy Bohlmann (5-16-2012)