Monday, February 12, 2024

Writing in the Dark of the Year - The Final Session

This, the last week in the course, the prompt was: "Every angel is terrible ..." (Rainer Maria Rilke).

This is what came into my head:

------------------------------------

O Lucifer, star of the morning,
Have we all been tarred with
your gorgeous, careless brush?

You, the one who enjoyed fellowship
with the Almighty!
You let it go to your head, did you -
as a result you hurtled,
the most magnificent peacock,
sapphire and emerald
and onyx and gold feathers
Tumbling 
from the heavens
Cascading 
through the firmament
To land in the mysterious murkiness called
"In the beginning."

Your metamorphosis into 
the loveliest of serpents
in the garden 
made us who watched
from above
regard you with fear and awe.
Michael, Gabriel trying to fill your sandals
shuddered as you were banished
and slithered
away.

Where did you go?

Would human kind now believe
that every angel is terrible?

And so we rallied ourselves.
We organized:
Battalions
Regiments
Brigades
Divisions -
A heavenly host.
Seraphim to guard the holy of holies
Cherubim to protect humankind from themselves
The great princes: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel
And one throne now vacant, O Lucifer,
Star of the morning.

Guardian angels
Earth angels
Hark, the herald angels sing.

An army of goodness.  
Thousands upon thousands of us,
working tirelessly to protect and defend.

And yet, still they're drawn
to you, O Lucifer
Prince of darkness
Roaring lion
Tempter of God Himself -
Terrible, beautiful
Star of the morning

The Fallen Angel
by
Alexandre Cabanel

https://www.culturefrontier.com/the-fallen-angel-lucifer-painting/

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Karyn. Once again you have so much magic with words. So enjoy your posts & I hope you continue with your writings so the rest of can enjoy them. 💜💜💜💜

Joyce Lloyd said...

Sweetie God has given you a heart of beautiful words! You have a given talent that is truly from The Father. This is great! Thank you for sharing this! Love you 💕💕💕💕💕👏👏👏👏 you need too start you a book. I’m serious!

Jerry and Sharon Durston said...

You are a gifted writer! Hauntingly beautiful and thought provoking.

Bronwyn Spilsbury said...

So powerful, so terrible, so tantalizing. I hear the raging roar of the fall turn itself into a sweet-singing murmur that fell all too well into a pearl-like ear.
Oh dear. You're right - he's the one most of us turn to, most. But we never believe it of ourselves. So we paint all angels grey, whitish, boring. Muted by our own need to cover up the dazzle. Thank you for this penetrating vision.

Rachel Shah said...

So capturing Karyn .. 👌❤️🙏🏽