A Phoenix For Your Gasoline

I wrote this poem in the depths of a devastating heartbreak this past autumn. I have described the process of heartbreak as trying to walk down a mountain. You are constantly circling it as you descend, and one side of the mountain is your pain. At first, you see the pain constantly, as you circle the narrow peak over and over. As the descent widens, you see it less often, as your travels around it become wider and wider. Eventually you are fooled into thinking you've reached the bottom, but then you realize, you've only been making the widest circles yet. Each time I revisit this spot, I must remind myself... I'm almost there.

October 25, 2010

A Phoenix For Your Gasoline

Do you know why we burn?

Why we go up in flame?

Do you know why

We go through this destruction and pain?

Gasoline

You set me on fire

A love so deep

So hot

When you came all over me

Gasoline

You had what you wanted

You had it all with me

I burned with desire

Gasoline…

And you walked away

And you left me in flames

Tossed a match as you tossed me aside

You smiled and warmed your hands for a moment

Over the fire you’d set

Hoping I’d die

But you don’t know why we burn

You don’t know what you started

When you covered me in gasoline

And left me burning

And yearning

For your love’s fire

Your gasoline

It all burns off

Flames sear me,

A cloud of smoke

And I know why we burn

Gasoline

You didn’t kill me

For I am a Phoenix

And I will rise

Gasoline

You don’t know why we burn

But one day you’ll learn

When you feel this destruction and pain

Seek me out

For I am a Phoenix

And I’ll show you the ashes

The smoldering lesson

The reason why we burn

You walked away

You left me in flames

Tossed a match as you tossed me aside

But know this

Gasoline

When you came all over me

I burned with desire

But from those ashes

I rise

For I am a Phoenix

And I will never die.