A Medley of Angels*

A Medley of Angels

 

Several Poems Revised in Succession

While Fending Off Many Dark Thoughts

And Recovering from Major Surgery

 

-U-

 

-FIRST-

 

I crossed a line

Drawn in my mind;

Then stumbled to my knees

For in the sky came passing by

Three clouds in weightless ease

 

And I began to tremble

At what next that I saw there:

A flight of tethered angels,

That did tumble in the air

 

And in my fright,

I turned away

 

And then, I heard a cry

 

For in their aspect, I did sense

That I was born to die.

 

-NEXT-

 

A heart adrift on some dark city street
Is like a truth that grieves in stark defeat
He’s but a raincoat and a hat’s damp brim,
Though surely what is prescient painted him

He seems to hold our glance �" He seems to stare
As demons do, when we are unaware

Yet he is merely filling up the space
In which an artist shows his hidden face.

 

 

-PENULTIMATE-

 

His darling died, as if on cue,

As darlings often come to do

She left a message in his room

For him to read amid the gloom

Then fainted, falling from a stair

And got an answer to her prayer

For time discovered in her brain,

A tumor love could not contain.

 

-LAST-

 

I do not suffer better thoughts
When gloom obscures my sight
Or fears surround me like a gang
That looks to vanquish light

No, only when the roses bloom,

And only in the sun,

Do I think on the better deeds
That could in love be done

I only ponder what is good
When in my thoughts I keep

My promise to a loving God
That love shall never weep.