Council of the Phoenix Queen
Gail Auctor
It twas a night both warm and fair,
And I wandered in the forest where
The moonlight shone on dancing leaves
Fluttering in the cool night breeze
When all at once a startling light
Sent the birds a’wing in fright
Through the brush I did dash
For I caught the scent of smoke and ash
Affeared of fire, I made great haste
To prevent this wood from being debased
When all at once, I broke through trees
And shock nearly brought me to my knees
Fire I had rightly guessed
But never could I’ve known the rest
Thirteen figures stood in a ring
Each garbed as finely as a king
Crowns of gold graced their heads
The hair beneath all fiery red
Enormous wings hung on their backs
Ranged from ashen white, to orange, to black
A strange dull light, from each did glow
And I could not but wonder how
They had appeared, as if from air
To all be standing, waiting there
Waiting for something, that I knew
Then, as if my thought had been a cue
Another light, this far more blinding
And still I watched- it was spellbinding
The dark night sky was ripped asunder
And a roar, like furious thunder
Shook the ground, the trees, the rocks
And all the while, I did but gawk
For from the sky appeared a form
Caught in the midst of a fiery storm
It descended to the ground below
And a wondrous sight fate did bestow
It twas as if the sun herself
Had floated down from heaven’s shelf
And placed her glory within a woman
To shine like no other creature can
Her wings were first of purest gold
But then as they did unfold
They seemed to flicker like burning flames
The colors of which I cannot name
The thirteen figures then did bow
For she was their queen, I knew somehow
She proudly stood before them all
And in a silvery voice raised this call-
“Rise my council, my people dear,
It is for a grave thing, that we meet here.”
These lines and others, I read between
And discovered this was the Council of the Phoenix Queen
I do not know of what else they spoke
I could not hear, from behind my oak
But the scene I burned upon my mind
For I would never see another of the kind
For hours the phoenixes stood in array
Or it may have been seconds or minutes or days
When all at once the council ended
And the fourteen then ascended
I watched the glorious creatures fly
With flaming wings and golden eyes
Until they were at last, far gone
And I was once again alone
In that silent forest I stood
And prayed they were not gone for good
From the clearing I then did steal
I wondered if what I saw was dream or real
Gail Auctor is a young writer with a passion for fantasy and a hatred for getting her photo taken. She has completed four novels and a collection of songs, poems, and short stories. Her current projects are The Wolves of Wullferg Keep, editing the first draft of Lilithantha; A Most Wonderfully Gruesome Tale, and re-plotting the fourth draft of Magic Stones and the Reign of Chaos.
You can view Auctor’s personal blog here and read some of her works here.