Nicely settled on wrist,  

serenely falcon-like preening 

the fiery-feathered Phoenix  

takes all the time needed. 

Harper gazes on,  

proudly indulgent, 

till cleaning complete,  

mythological beast  

inclines blazing beak 

anointing Harper's own. 

Her eyes red-gold fractal, 

she is quintessentially female, 

alive with fire.  

Alive with potential  

and untold magic. 

.

        Will you do likewise for 

        my Brothers and Sisters? 

she queries, uncondescending.

.

Harper nods, duly enchanted, 

rubs beak with soft affection.  

She sighs, turns attention,  

to the happiest of interventions.

Then all are loosed: 

        Manticore*-Orange,  

        Cockatrice*-Yellow,  

        Garuda*-Green,  

        Pegasus-Blue,  

        Djinn-Indigo,  

        Sphinx-Violet 

        Sylphid*-Crystal. 

They form a rainbow coronet, 

entwined and intermingling 

that settle-nestles,  

                        revolving  

above Harper's head. 

. 

Now, I can play,  

Harper reveals.

.

        Play?  

A voice interpolates.  

        And with what do  

        you plan to play? 

        Please tell me or have 

        I missed something!

.

Harper jumps,  

much startled,  

having subsided -very natural- 

into wistful-cerebral-creative,  

other-worldly consciousness. 

She'd forgotten both audience 

and annoying, self-appointed, 

self-opinionated, eight-legged-nuisance 

and perennial irritant.

.

With this,  

she replies,

.

following wearied heartfelt sigh, 

then lays left hand humbly on stout  

though hammering heart. 

She then describes  

a preliminary,  

pseudo-operatic gesture 

but no aria springs forth 

her hand lures out instead  

four iridescent strings  

attached to four finger ends. 

The left arm remains bent 

strings tauten, then 

she lays right hand gentle  

on swelling, enlarged heart,  

pulls free like celestial taffy 

a finely stringed something, 

shaped somewhat like a... 

like a... stringed bow! 

What! But how? 

Harper has made a bow 

to accommodate violin. 

A heart-strung instrument,  

incandescently iridescent  

and now she taps toe,  

gauges beat and begins.

Eyes closed, concentrating 

as bow flies to meet bridge,  

the sounds emulsify - collide 

unleash a torrent of resonance,  

an upsurging waterfall 

that catapults all eight  

coroneting beasts that  

fountain up to dark sky,  

inundate with borealis light. 

Harper throws  

light-inflecting sounds  

that resonate and cloud-rebound  

and her audience astounded, rise. 

Clap hands, wave paws, clack claws  

and caw and cry and praise 

Harper and her weaving  

of Bright Magic.

*A cockatrice is a mythical beast, essentially a two-legged dragon with a rooster's head. 

*The Garuda is a large mythical bird, bird-like creature, or humanoid bird that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology. 

* The manticore (Early Middle Persian Martyaxwar) is a Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), sometimes bat wings, and a trumpet-like voice. 

*Sylph (also called sylphid) is a mythological spirit of the air.[1] The term originates in Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as invisible beings of the air, his elementals of air.