In my body lives a flame, <br />Flame that burns me all the day; <br />When a fierce sun does the same, <br />I am charred away. <br /> <br />Who could keep a smiling wit, <br />Roasted so in heart and hide, <br />Turning on the sun's red spit, <br />Scorched by love inside? <br /> <br />Caves I long for and cold rocks, <br />Minnow-peopled country brooks, <br />Blundering gales of Equinox, <br />Sunless valley-nooks, <br /> <br />Daily so I might restore <br />Calcined heart and shrivelled skin, <br />A morning phœnix with proud roar <br />Kindled new within.<br /><br />Robert Graves<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/morning-ph-nix/
