Like the phoenix, I'll rise

"Like the phoenix, I'll rise"
She trembles under blankets thin
watching the rivulets of rain
coursing down the cracked window

From the ashes, dark and gray.
outside the sirens break the patter
gunshots resound in the night
she clutches tighter, slowing tears

"Like the phoenix, I'll rise"
Her brother's corpse adorns the doorstep
Her sister screams in unwanted childbirth
calling her innocence away.

From the ashes, dark and gray
Her life torn amid dirt and dust
her soul withering with childhood gone
tomorrow she will wake, undone

"Like a phoenix, I'll rise"
rags covering an empty body
she scampers down the alleys
running away to another world

She will fight and cry
with strength barely found
she will rise against the world
from the ashes, dark and gray