Michael/Archangel

i.
What is the sum of you? This:

1) …

ii.
Standing in the doorway, the first
time, the sun behind
you, illuminating your
hair, a halo of light

your face half-hidden in shadow. A breeze
blows through behind you,
ruffles papers strewn on the desk
carrying
the smells of car exhaust,
star jasmine, summer heat.

iii.
When you fought Samael
and cast him down
did the skies
thunder like heartbeats
Did your eyes
flash
brilliantine
across his broken pinions as
he fell?

You shrug, noncommittal.
This is a place
I cannot go.

iv.
We sit on a weathered bench
in the park, eating sandwiches.
The gloomy sky spits a hopeless rain.
When I kiss you I taste
mayonnaise and golden apples.

You don’t notice
that your hair isn’t damp,
that your shoulderblades
beneath the blueblack wool
feel like the stumps of wings.
You groan into my mouth.

v.
Closer:
the skin of your belly is
marble-white and hums
under my hand. You smile,
uncertain, but I,

I am consumed. Sometimes
I hate it, this need.

vi.
You quote
“Desiderata” to me,
insist that moral turpitude
is a greater sin than
unhappiness.
Perhaps you’re right
but seeing your
worn and torn face
I begin to wonder

vii.
Late at night you sit on the couch
and watch a couple
do it doggie-style on telly
You tug on your ear
Sip a glass of red wine,
The people around you smile, laugh.
Oblivious
To your splendour and boredom

Why do you not
fling open the door
run out into the frosted December night

Down the road under the streetlights
Feet slipping in the ice
And unfurling your wings
lift off from the ground in
A terrible glory?

.