Rise (Notevember 2023, #13)

Your first mistake was to leave the embers glowing
No fire is dead until the last glow is snuffed out
And your attempts to smother me
Should have been more thorough
For here I am:
A phoenix ascending to new heights
The choking chains of ignorance long since shrugged off
Along with the ashes, under which
Feathers red and raging

False devils you painted on the inside of my eyelids
Gone the moment I opened my eyes
Brighter merely for looking
And surely in time, enlightened
But I have not yet attained wisdom
Nothing to temper the hungry storm
Just breath after breath
Life-giving oxygen to stoke the glow
As I learn – horror of horrors – hah, I learn!

I have new devils now, dancing wildly
Not to your tune, but mine
Around the Promethean fire
That cannot, will not be put out
And the sparks I gladly leave in my wake
Fall into the darkness below
Waking a million minds
Each igniting a myriad more
Stars in the night even under the clouds
An army of campfires
Ready to march

Come, then!
You look tired
Ragged, worn
Worried sick
But looming large as before
Unwilling to recognize your frailty
Unable to recognize my strength
Just remember
As you set yourself above to look down on me:
Heat rises –
Pass me by entirely,
Or burn.