Mate-less contemplative, beyond the weight
of his familial song, this bird
most wont envy turns redolent bonfire, a bouquet
of candelabra,
till his cresset wings billow, a chorus combusting
as he frenzies heaven's theater.
A clamoring hubris un-nests him.
His body running giddy with crimson, this luminant traveler
trills hymns in a fevering seethe
of deliverance
from a rosy pyre.
Caught out, combusting, he's louder than
poppies, a riptide of red notes,
his plumage turning blaze into flourish, a swirl of chime
reminiscent of nativity.
Smoke writhes to a whisper.
Without fanfare, arisen, he's raw as a newborn,
fledgling-pink among the startled flock, just now
touching down.
