“Remembering How To Fly” by Linda M. Crate

remembering how to fly
should’ve known you were a devil
when you couldn’t fly,
but i was convinced you were just
missing your light
that somehow i could illuminate you
so that you were capable of lighting
your candles once more;
but you weren’t interested in being lit
tried to blow out all my candles
after you found you could not steal my
light—
you didn’t realize light has to come from
within,
but it’s okay;
in the end that death was necessary
so i could rise on these immortal wings—
i thought i was buried,
but i was planted;
all the bad you gave me was put to good use
when i bloomed a stronger and more radiant flower
than before—
all these leaves and feathers burn bright with heaven’s
fury and all these tears healed my soul because
i have always been a phoenix
just needed to remember how use my wings
so thank you for reminding me to focus on my flight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linda M. Crate is a writer whose works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is: More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018).