New PR-188

That Ironic Stem of Light

I have never liked the phrase
The better angels of our nature and now
I find it was coined by Abraham Lincoln

(Who suspended habeus corpus–
So stuff gets complicated one could argue)

But still it connotes there might be some
Rotten angels in the barrel . . .
Though come to think of it the name Lucifer

Has that ironic stem of light
And then also of course you have Lucy

With her famous football ploy—
Like I say
Things are complicated . . .
 

New PR-208

This Announcement Is for the Benefit of Angels

Here I am dog paddling
(Playing for time)
This announcement is for the benefit
Of angels looking to rescue me

The problem is I cannot say where I am
(There are no sign posts)
Near as I can figure
It’s in the middle of beauty

Because I’ve noticed the roses
The smile of a beloved
The hidden even gratitude of someone
I had once at my mercy

And of course the all pervading
Perfume of attar
(Roses again)
And the sweet chant of angels

(If one listens carefully)
And I assume
(Call it faith?)
That the angels always do
 

PR3—8

An Angel Told Me Once, Between Gentlemen

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have
lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?”
–Jesus (Matthew 5:13)

There isn’t anything you should be doing
But are shirking
That wouldn’t get working

Like an excited pair of lungs
Just by turning the whole enterprise
Into a first class blast

Which if that is lacking
(Wise sent packing)
Maybe it’s not worth doing anyway

So yes sometimes things are vague
But an angel told me once
Between gentlemen

That he trick is this:
Remember the antidote for ennui
Is enthusiasm
 

PR3–10

Let’s Have a Close Look at This Famous Fear

I am afraid of fear but
I suspect an angel

Told me to tell myself this
Should be interesting

Let’s have a close look
At this famous fear

Itself maybe
But not me surely

I can analyze the specimen
When the specimen is nothing

We need to worry our pretty
Little heads about

And we are all pretty:
Especially so once we realize that
 

PR3–113

An Angel on the Wall

There are moments of holiness
Moments es decir of joy and who
Can stand unmoved by brotherhood?

And why is not that blood enough?
Suppose we were an angel on the wall
Hearing the divine colloquy in the heart

Forget martyrs–what else matters?
So what if then
Occasionally and contrapuntally

There intervenes the venal?
The senile?
You know where is treasure

And you know it’s secure
And if you are wise
You will invite it in
 

PR3–122

I Slipped into a Pink Cloud

“A study of life is the greatest of all religions,
and there is no greater and more interesting study.”
–Hazrat Inayat Khan

I am doing interesting
Experiments with assumptions:
Like just now when I was being visceral over
Some renter issue tussle but then

I thought wouldn’t it be exciting
If it was this easy?
So I tried it: I slipped into
(In my imagination)

A pink cloud in fact of the color
Of Meher Baba’s famous coat . . .
And there was a surprise party!
Angels jumped out and I felt so intact so loved

So safe it made me blush a different shade of
Pink and I think my landlady must have wondered
About me crying like that
Sighing like that
 

PR3–128

Courage Is a Thing to Look Beyond

“Be valiant, and powerful forces will come to your aid.”
–Goethe

Courage is a thing to look beyond:
I think it’s just a bent grass blade
For Aragorn* to track
But Aragorn can do that

And he isn’t even God not yet
Yes things aren’t what they seem
And my probably Midas hunch
(Or call it an angel in a dream)

Is that just beyond certain thresholds
Which divide this world
From the next most real one
Is a diaphanous (light-porous) screen

And on the other side this courage
Is something else:
A sweet smile perhaps
The smell of a rose . . .

*A hero of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings