The Hastily Assembled Angel Considers His Own Foreknowing

The hastily assembled angel wandered

The desert hidden in      the pillar of

Cloud in the day      and in the pillar of

Fire in the night      and as he wandered he

Asked himself whether      sometimes as he wandered

He asked himself      whether he really could

Be said to wander      since he after all

Could see through time      which was even better for

Seeing where he was going than seeing      through space

In the day he was a darkness in the cloud

Like rain      and in the night he was a darkness

In the fire      like God      and day and night he won-

dered why he had been given gifts even God

Hadn’t been given or no even God      had-

n’t given Themselves or no no even      God did-

n’t have and who he wondered ever could

Give God a gift      except he knew he was

Allowed to see through time because he was

Not God      and could be wrong      and saw through time

With many-chambered eyes      all things that might be

And God would see      only the one thing that would

Is that the one gift      he wondered      That free people

Give God uncertainty      he wondered in

The cloud as the crowd followed him or followed

The darkness in the pillar      though it was

The only flaw in the pillar they could see