"The Flames of Dawn" by Brian Buckley

The Flames of Dawn

She sat by herself on an isle of stone
Encircled by mountains, and sitting alone
Commanded the night from an ivory throne,
And stared at the world below.

Her skin was of silver, her dress shimmered white,
Her hair dangled free in the blackness of night,
And hers was the power of shadow and light,
Where none but immortals could go.

But ruling there free in her sparkling bliss
She looked to the sky and saw something amiss
It had crept past her guards with a fiery hiss
And gleamed in the chamber of dark.

With a quick angry wave of one delicate hand
She gave to her servants a single command;
To quench this intruder that threatened her land
And destroy its sputtering spark.

Her dragonflies sped to their glittering foe
And put out the upsetting fiery glow
With buckets of water and handfuls of snow
In the rays of the light of the moon.

Then they swiftly came back, with their mission complete
Having proved to their mistress the might of their fleet
And they sang as their crystalline wingtips all beat
In return to their frosty cocoon.

But far from defeated, the fireflies came
Rising up from their embers in tendrils of flame
And the children of Phoenix lived up to their name
As they took the queen's castle by storm.

She stood up then in fury, eyes kindled in rage
And her hands whipped in ice as she took to her stage
Blasting out glacial winds from some arctic Ice Age
As the icicles outlined her form.

Her attackers gave way to this onslaught of snow,
Surprised and amazed by her cosmic light show,
And they looked around madly for somewhere to go
To escape from her terrible wrath.

But amidst this display of befuddled discord
There cut through the drizzle a crackling sword
And trumpets announced the return of their lord
As he walked up her ivory path.

His eyes were twin embers, his hair black as coal,
And his steps echoed clear as he marched to his goal
With a look on his face that could pierce through your soul
And a crown made of rubies and flame.

So she watched him with care as he kept up his pace
Through her courtyard of diamond and gardens of lace
And he met her at last, and they stood face to face
And the fireflies echoed his name.

The accounts of their battle, to this day are told:
How the clashes of fire rang out through the cold
And the heavens exploded in silver and gold
And the mountaintops shivered alone.

How the heat of his breath met the frost on her lips
How they danced through the night like two sailing ships
How the fire flew red from his fingertips
As they fought in a valley of bone.

But at last she was spent; and with one final cry
Her scepter was cracked, and the stars in the sky
Twinkled out one by one as she whispered goodbye
And her body was melted away.

His battle was over, his war he had won
But their struggle in truth was just barely begun
For as light follows dark, so will moon follow sun
And the night take revenge on the day.