Wings and Phoenix

FOR GUITOU KNOOP

At daybreak as I awoke
I wondered:
can the stars stand tiptoe on one tip
like ballet stars standing tiptoe?

What Ariadne clew leads me to the wellspring of fluid forces
from which this sparrow-hawk movement soars up?

And does the blue-beak gesture
hesitate to alight on one of its tips?
On one of its piercing rays?
Its wings radiate
rhythms that are half star and half insect
and fade in the darkness
of a philosophical ulterior motive.

The wings of the roses swarm
in this amphora dream
as in a heart.
They catch fire and blaze.
The deepness erects its dream-mirrors.
Snow-leaves fall.
And the phoenix is born
and shakes its feathers
as a tree its frost-covered plumage.

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