Great Eagle with multi-coloured plumage;
Soars through the heavens with awesome power.
Huge talons and wings are his assemblage,
With his lethal beak his prey he'll devour.
In Jewish legend he is named Milcham,
Who didn't eat from the forbidden tree.
Immortal and pure, death him could not damn,
Continued rebirth was heavens decree.
Saudi Arabia names him the Rukh,
and he is known as the Feng in China.
In the Door's great book this Bennu does look
like the morning star, in Egypt of Ra.
Each five hundred years Phoenix builds a pyre,
of sun-dried herbs of Frankincense and Myrrh.
He adjures the sun to ignite the fire,
blazing feathers to ashes to transfer.
In glowing cinders he performs death's dance,
as he sings resurrection's five-note song.
The fire his youthful vigour doth enhance,
in fledgling rebirth he arises strong.
Vivienne Lorraine Harding
07 June 2007
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