Phoenix Feather

On the day of judgement,

for some realm or another,

of the one who came in hopes of saving them

Teeth were bared

Drool could be seen dripping from their mouths

Such a feast they had not known

Wild beasts ready to tear

Though they had no water to spare

For all that they had gathered as proof

Became many pounds of sin filled flesh

And though the visitor knew not the rules

They now set the scales

As if balance meant fairness

The Phoenix erupted.

Horror filled the land, horror forgotten for an age

But recognized by all the moment it returned

She let her form shape like theirs

And stood by the scales they had prepared

"A soul weighed against a feather, right?"

Hands shaking, in silence, they nodded

"I thought I might provide one."

She plucked a feather from her form

Separated now it regained its own

Burning chaos, only quelled when held within her

A single touch of feather detached would melt

Through scales and minds and walls and all

She held it an inch from the balance

A future memory freezing all into place

Of what waited a moment after judgement

No one dared breathe,

without a twitch they tried plead

But she simply responded

"By the same measure, I believe it is said?"

Weeping now heard from the crowd

An unfathomable end, but one that was allowed

Twisted rules, but ones they had twisted and used

To secure a case against the one they accused

A realm doomed they could only stare

For silence loomed, a snare that was shared

With no objection possible she gave a shrug

But before the trigger pull, the stranger spoke

"I desire mercy. I have done my best to explain why, I have done my best to understand why. I feel the structure is sound and I have glimpsed it, but still I fall short of seeing it in full. Still, we have time aplenty, both now awake, to examine these fault lines, seeing where structures fail and might be pictured better so as not to break. I understand your wrath this day, certainly I have my own too, but is not an aspect of mercy mercy declared, even when you are unsure of how to feel it?"

She pauses to consider, I can sense them all doing the same. We each considered this same point for different reasons that day, but in the end it was done for a friend.