Coming Down On The Side Of The Angels Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

coming down on the
side of the angels
is not as easy as it looks

in Christmas movies

when Your kingdom on
the tip of our tongue
dissolves like snow
or like something we
walked into a room to retrieve
and then forgot

I reach but I cannot touch
I feel but I cannot say
a splendor flaring up
momentarily-drowned out by idiocy

getting on the wrong bus
I look for you in vain
going past stops I can't recognize

I stand in the rain for hours
finding no Samaritans
either good

or bad-

mary angela douglas 19 february 2008