The Hastily Assembled Angel Considers the Kingdoms of Dogs and of People

The hastily assembled angel wanders

And has      through cities centuries of  cities

And countries and millennia of  cities

And countries and of  women and of men      there’s


No hurry now though he was hurriedly

Once brought to being      and bears the scars of  that

Though slowly      in the Earth      though slowly he

Eventually began to wonder what


The hurry had been for      and if  he could

Have been a better angel or have done

Better the job he did if once

They’d made him the      other angels had allowed


Him to meet God      for he has been uncertain

As people are uncertain he has nev-

er been as certain      as dogs are      who sniff

The wind that moves the curtain      and see behind the curtain

Source: Poetry (November 2018)