I saw an angel giving a sacrifice.
The fire played off her ebony skin. Her hair fell in dark waves down her back, between the white wings of a dove. They ruffled a bit, then settled down. On her shoulder sat a basket, flowers spilling down the side and hiding what lay within.
I don't know what the basket contained, because I did not have the right eyes to see into it. At least, this is what she told me.
"So what are the right eyes and how can I get them?" I asked.
"To look into my basket, you have to stop seeing with the eyes you use now."
I told her that didn't make any sense to me. She only smiled, then went back to watching the flame. I asked her if she was going to pour the contents of her basket into the fire, but she only shook her head.
"I can't pour it until you look at what I have," she said.
"But you just told me I can't," came my reply. My head felt heavy as my thoughts ran in circles. "You're confusing me."
The angel only smiled and watched the flames a bit more. I decided to look at the fire myself, when I noticed that it rested in the middle of three Egyptian busts. That seemed odd to me, so I told her so.
"I do not follow the rules that humans have imposed on themselves. I simply am."
"You are what?"
"I am nothing. I am everything. I'm in between. I'm all around. I am infinite. I am minute. I am Creation. I am Destruction. I am."
And this made sense to me. So I told her so.
"Why does it make sense?"
"Because I listen to your words with a free and clear mind, instead of the mind that the creatures in my world are trying to create within me."
"You are close, but you still look with your eyes."
"...I don't know if I can remember how to see without them," I told her.
"You did once."
"It feels like another lifetime."
"Have you changed so much? Or is it something else?"
"Something else." And tht was an honest answer. "...can I still see without my eyes?"
"Only you can answer that."
"...it's a precious gift. I feel it slipping away. I don't want to lose it, though. Please, let me look in your basket."
And I closed my eyes.
I saw an angel give a sacrifice. She threw the ashes of dreams into the fire. But I was not sad.
From those ashes came the Phoenix. It didn't stay long, but I knew it was still there.
It would come back soon.
Inspired by a candle holder and an oil burner.
