pHeNoMeNa

"But in the end one needs more courage to live
than to kill himself." - Albert Camus
 
i.  
a caterpillar eats itself,  
and turns into a butterfly;
worms thus transformed, fresh from death's shelf,  
seeds of new prospects magnify.  
 
II.  
sweet though the honey, not the sting,  
to man or beast or honeybee;
the venom that comes ripe on wing
kills its dispenser who bites thee.  
 
iii.  
impales the thornbird's throbbing breast
upon its thorn, deep in the woods,  
and trembles sweet with birdsong zest
ere sleep o'ertakes his somber moods.  
 
iv.  
there is a palm that blooms and dies,  
like laughter waiting to exhale;
solemn his glorious last-goodbyes,  
post-hundred years king of the vale.  
 
v.  
woe to male chauvinist mantis pig,  
caught by the lure of sex appeal,  
whose host, full-sated by his jig,  
makes him a post-coital meal.  
 
vi.  
the phoenix rises from the ash,  
where fortunes melt, of king and sage;
thus may old actors old ways trash,  
to bloom on an untarnished page.  
 
vii.  
an eagle in his lofty perch
self-mortifies talon and beak,  
rearming for the endless search
of predator for victims weak.  
 
viii.  
be valiant when life's raging storms
impale your courage in the test;
let all your sighs become new psalms;
rise from your ash, and be your best.  
 
© Copyright 2023 March 19
by Clyve A. Bowen