William Burns

Dream Sequences of the Phoenix



The Magician

The Magician says good-bye to all the animals
and makes them disappear one by one

We sit around in a circle
   and applaud from our lawn chairs

The Magician disappears
In the darkness
   under the stars

We try to guess how he did it

Advancing Front



From seeming nowhere
Thunderheads appear on the horizon
Seeking to blot out the late-summer sun

The clouds are ripped
In a brutal crosswind
And the forms of mystic dragons
Are severed from the cloud mass

The dragons leap for the Sun
Across a rainbow bridge
Their eyes ignite
As they wolf down the light

I can see the Sun
Slide down the throat of the beast
Thunder is his laughter
Lightning flashes are his joy

I witness the quenching of the Sun
In the belly of the beast

The cold touch of Fear raises the hair on my neck
But Reason whispers in my ear
"Fear not
It is merely an advancing front
It is not the end of Time
It will pass....."

Darker Image



My grandmother's glass has gone dark
   I don't understand how....
My back was turned...
   and it just changed
I can still see my reflection in the jet
   but it seems somehow altered
      I don't know,  just different
         darker...

His hair looks like mine
   and we stand almost the same
But I can't make out...
      the eyes
I don't know...

He moved just then
Did you see him?
He moved...
   I swear

I walk a bit closer to the glass
He advances...
   What the Hell am I doing?
He lifts his hand
   Am I lifting mine?
Stop this!

I feel the warmth of his hand on the other side...
This startles me
He is warm?  How?
I see his eyes now
   they look haunted...
My breath clouds the glass
   and he wipes it away

Is he my ghost or am I his?
Is the glass keeping him out
   or me?

The Abyss



Right at the edge
   at the tip of the lip
I stamp the ground flat
   and unwrap my lunch

The wind whips my shirt
   on its way into the abyss
Taking my crumbs
   and my wishes....

Did something move....
   or was it me?
      Is there a difference?

I drink my wine
   and pitch the bottle over the edge
Polluting infinity
   think of it

Come on up
If you want me
   you'll have to come and get me

Mind Matter Interface



My spirit dances
     ghost in flesh
          man in metaphor

Weathering the tides of time
     in my temple of fiber, flesh and bone

Seeking the Unified Aesthetic
     through the portals of nerve and brain

Gemini



He held up the colored circle of wood
   for my inspection
      or comment perhaps

I pointed to the place
   where the cold comes from

He lifted the ringing spheres
   above the autumn leaves

I recited the chants of letting go

Raven and I



I see myself molded in sand
     on the beach
Raven puts flowers around my sleeping face

"I condemn these things of beauty
     to death
     as you were condemned
          my love."

The tide rises and waves lap at my feet
She fights to hold my melting body together

The waves carry off the flowers
The waves carry away all semblances of form

She will not leave the beach
     except to hunt for food
She stands and watches as the tides rise and ebb
She waits in summer gales
     in autumn winds
     in winter's grayness
She waits in fear and grief

Suddenly!
There!
In the shallows
I fight to clear my lungs
I fight for the surface

I burst into the light
     coughing and spitting

She drags me to the beach
Her tears baptize me
I am reborn in her arms

Yin and Yang III



The waves crash
   the beach changes
      and remains unchanged in the night

The horses of spirit
   rip through the twilight
      between darkness and daybreak
Lightning flashes in the eyes
   and clouds erupt from their nostrils
      in the chill
The thunder of their hooves
Divide the world into
   daylight and darkness
   dry land and sea
   constant Sun and changing Moon

The old man walks the beach
   his hair the color of the gray sand
He chants verses of letting go
   and pokes the foot print craters
      with his walking stick
He collects the things the sea offers
   and decides to take a swim
      before he sits down to eat

The Fever Breaks



To the depth
   that we have embraced the Night
Let us
   rejoice in the Dawn