Austin Basham - The Phoenix & The Turtle Lyrics






Years and years you pushed me away.
A matchless fiend, futile, some would say.
But you surprised me, you changed it all
When you risked it that night; leading into the fall.

Look at me, you're a dove and I'm a tree.
We will slow it down until the silence gets too loud.
It's getting late don't leave,
We're going to take our time and breath.
Then we will fall in love.

Twixt the turtle and his queen.

Oh besiege me, why do I curse my fate?
Don't you see it was you who put me in the restless state.
But I know you'll be waiting for my wandering soul,
Like the priest in surplice white and he who paid our toll.
Like the priest in surplice white and he who paid our toll.

Let me in. You're the Phoenix, my dearest friend.
Herald sad and trumpet be, I'm the turtle you didn't see.
Sat and talked all night, lest the requiem lack his right.
So far apart we tried. Either was the other's mine.

Oh my father once said save the eagle, feather'd king.

Oh please don't leave me forever.
Unlatch the door and break this fetter.
Oh please don't leave me forever,
unlatch the door and break this fetter.
Oh please done leave me forever.
I want to go back home together.

Look at me, you're a dove and I'm a tree.
We will slow it down until the silence gets too loud.
It's getting late don't leave,
We're going to take out time and breath.
Then we will fall in love.





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Austin Basham The Phoenix & The Turtle Comments
  1. S.... V....

    thank you for doing this

    S.... V....

    You are most welcome, Sebastian. I am overjoyed that you've liked it. I've been a fan of this poem ever since my mid twenties. And I did it for my own satisfaction and for th sake of making this poem better known. And I made this video with the idea of pleasing myself, expecting it to experience a flop. How wrong can you get! It is my most viewed video.

    S.... V....

    @Oliver Álain Christie .. thank you so much for your reply. i love this poem too, and though i realise it is "allegorical", "about the death of ideal love", "obscure" and so on, what matters most to me is the fantastic power of his words in creating the image of two people whose love for each other was so intense that they became one. you read it well, and i have forwarded it to my queen.

  2. Z.... i....

    Let the bird of loudest lay,
    On the sole Arabian tree,
    Herald sad and trumpet be,
    To whose sound chaste wings obey.

    But thou, shrieking harbinger,
    Foul pre-currer of the fiend,
    Augur of the fever's end,
    To this troop come thou not near.

    From this session interdict
    Every fowl of tyrant wing,
    Save the eagle, feather'd king:
    Keep the obsequy so strict.

    Let the priest in surplice white,
    That defunctive music can,
    Be the death-defying swan,
    Lest the requiem lack his right.

    And thou, treble-dated crow,
    That thy sable gender mak'st
    With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st,
    'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.

    Here the anthem doth commence:
    Love and constancy is dead;
    Phoenix and the turtle fled
    In a mutual flame from hence.

    So they lov'd, as love in twain
    Had the essence but in one;
    Two distincts, division none:
    Number there in love was slain.

    Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
    Distance, and no space was seen
    'Twixt the turtle and his queen;
    But in them it were a wonder.

    So between them love did shine,
    That the turtle saw his right
    Flaming in the phoenix' sight:
    Either was the other's mine.

    Property was thus appall'd,
    That the self was not the same;
    Single nature's double name
    Neither two nor one was call'd.

    Reason, in itself confounded,
    Saw division grow together;
    To themselves yet either-neither,
    Simple were so well compounded.

    That it cried how true a twain
    Seemeth this concordant one!
    Love hath reason, reason none
    If what parts can so remain.

    Whereupon it made this threne
    To the phoenix and the dove,
    Co-supreme and stars of love;
    As chorus to their tragic scene.

    THRENOS.

    Beauty, truth, and rarity.
    Grace in all simplicity,
    Here enclos'd in cinders lie.

    Death is now the phoenix' nest;
    And the turtle's loyal breast
    To eternity doth rest,

    Leaving no posterity:--
    'Twas not their infirmity,
    It was married chastity.

    Truth may seem, but cannot be:
    Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;
    Truth and beauty buried be.

    To this urn let those repair
    That are either true or fair;
    For these dead birds sigh a prayer.

  3. P.... ....

    sorry ,here instead of hear

    P.... ....

    ☺️ There's an "edit" function in case of typo.

  4. P.... ....

    good voice to here and nice to here again and again...

  5. l.... 2....

    Bravo bravo 👏

    l.... 2....

    Thank you, luv 2read!

  6. R.... T....

    Very beautiful, great reading of a great poem!

    R.... T....

    Thank you very much indeed, R. Thomas, for this sympathetic comment.
    It is the very first one after almost three years!