A Doomed Love

The sun hides behind
a cloud
and sheds its tears,
which fall over the powdery ash
like a shower of golden kisses.

Restored to life,
the ashes leap into the air
in a colourful symmetry of feathers.
Defying death and reason,
the phoenix soars skyward
to meet the sun
in another destructive embrace.

Then, as the cinders of its lover's
burnt wings
fall back to earth,
the sun again draws a cloud over its face
and sheds a shower of golden kisses.