The Wings of the Hastily Assembled Angel

Shane McCrae

The hastily assembled angel flies

With patchwork wings red patches and white patches

And yellow patches blood and emptiness

And sun and usually      an angel’s wings would

Be made of  only one of  these      but his

Were made at the last minute and were almost

Not made at all and wouldn’t have been made

Had Azrael not seen      in the hastily

Assembled angel’s eyes as Azrael

Placed his white palm on the hastily assembled

Angel’s chest fear      as Azrael placed his palm there

To shove him from the cloud      and saw he had

No wings      and paused and thought      then pulled him back

And so the angels stitched together what was

Near      blood      emptiness      sun      as what was near

Was Heaven      and what else would Heaven be