Angel On High

An angel came to me today,

Small and full of memories

A hodgepodge of worn paint,

And yellowed glue

Chipped on her edges

And thick with the scent of my youth.

Imperfect, old, barely there.

You promised her to me

When I was as small as it.

Imperfect, young, barely there.

You said to me, “When I die, you

Can have this angel, and she will always

Look after you, even when I’m not around anymore,

To do it myself.”

It took more than the two years since your death

For her to find her way to me

But today she finally found me.

I’ve placed her somewhere high.

Given her pride of place

Amongst childhood trinkets,

Things that I can’t bring myself to part with

Remnants of my smallness.

Top shelf, where all the best stuff is.

She’s surrounded by gold now,

Real gold.

The gold that grazed your weary flesh

As you breathed your last.

Rested on your pulse as you passed

From one void to the next.

The last of your skin cells,

Still nestled between the

tiny crevices and notches

of your own trinket you couldn’t

bring yourself to part with.

The top shelf,

Where all the best stuff is.

Where my last piece of you is.

Guarded by an angel. 

Valour

I am not your inspiration
I do not utter words to live by
I am not a poster plastered on the
Social media wall
Of an online acquaintance
I am not brave
Or strong
Or even big or tall
I am small
I am meek and mild
And weighted down
With the heaviness of the human condition
I am not what you think I am
But I am weak
Not weak in the sense that
I am powerless
Weak in the sense that
The knees of my bees
Go weak in the presence
Of the sun lit glory of every day
The beauty of being vulnerable
The knowledge that
Under the strain of a million heartaches
I'm still here
Blessed are the meek
For they shall inherit the earth
Dont look to me to tell you
How to behave in the shadow of suffering
Dont ask me how to be fearless because I'm full of it
Dont wonder how I fight the good fight
You're already doing it
Know that you're not bigger
Than this world .
Nothing is.
And it will spin and move through the great expanse
Regardless of you
Armed with that knowledge, go and find your peace
Find your reason
Your own path
And walk it
Be your own catalyst for greatness
Dont try to have me galvanize you
Learn how to use your own two feet
And move

Rapture

‘And fire shall rain from the heavens and celestial bodies will merge and collide and a great expansion will happen.’

That was the first lesson I remember from the book. There were others but that was my favourite.

His voice boomed through the speakers in our hatchback. Thickening the close humid air with its resonance. Like a book on tape, but with out stories. This was the word, this was scripture. Our scripture. His word.

There were five of us tightly packed into the car, the weight of the doomed world resting squarely upon us. We packed everything we owned into it the night before.

 I couldn't see why we needed possessions where we were going but he told us we needed to bring them. So we did. So now we were here, on the way to the end of the world with front row tickets and bags to check in at the door.

The world was to be our stage.

We arrived, sweat and sleepiness sticky on our skin. A ranch far away from prying eyes who don't know they are already dead.

He was there to greet us and show us to our places. Radiant he was. Tall and strong and godlike in serenity and poise. Graceful hands handed us each a sippy  cup of juice. In the sky the sun and the moon were visible at once…'celestial bodies will merge'… It was all true.

We drank the juice before the fires came. Before humanity was set ablaze we drank, gulping deeply and gladly and fell to the ground sobbing deep breathy sobs of joy.

We faded into a gritty, ecstatic delirium. This was it. We were going home. Sweet rapture, the time had come!

Soon we would be perched upon the rings of Saturn, hand in hand with God himself, watching the whole world burn.