The Phoenix

We can rise from the ashes, triumphant
We can build anew, better

Tell me that again.
Have you ever considered
the phoenix rises from the ashes
burning anew?

Ashes do not burn.
Every rising is a new fuel.
Every rising is both a new bird
and one that never again
knows what it was not to have burned.

We know what it is to have burned.
We know what it is to be left in ashes.
Anything we rebuild must build from that.