pandora (phoenix)

Weaving her magic wand
Was never that miraculous
She knew how to cast a spell
She knew how to do it well

Entice them with her spice
Disarm them with her charm
Unrobe them with her hope
And expose their deepest woes

Thus poised against their poison
By none of it she could be hurt
As before one could buoy her
She’d be digging in their dirt

The darkest corners of a mind
The thorns within a heart
She would lay bare and openly
Before they’d take the chance
To tear her own apart

And so her archetypal box
Remained wholly untouched
Not one whose very humanity
Could strip bare all the layers
Of her self-imposed insanity
As they’d always want her naked
And always way too rushed

Until the day she had foreseen
When a king announced his claim
He would reveal her inner queen
From him she could not refrain

She untied her secret box
To let it all come out
But rather than a sacred sign
He read it as all quite malign
And bolted, down and out

She locked it back inside
-Equally deep and wide-
And threw away the key
To where no one could see

…

When suddenly he says he’s ready
Tears it open, swift & steady
With a quick flick of his finger-

It overflows, it spills
All its frivolous frills
But he’s not there to
Watch her let it linger

Damn it, it’s a double
Bind - she promised not
To punish; so she blames
Herself for ribbons
Torn, spilt treasures
And the rubbish

That’s now lying all across
The floor - the basement
Of her heart; should she
Have opened up that door
And torn the locks apart?

For he’s playing with her toys
Now scattered everywhere
And she doesn’t know if
She can afford pretending
Not to care

Pandora’s out
And now she
Needs a partner
To dance with
Everywhere