Falling Angels

            After a painting by Bruce Herman

Lightning-fast,

the flailing figures

plummet through the heavens,

victims of a self-willed force –

the gravity of hubris.

Forsaking and forsaken,

their only choice is to embrace

with outstretched arms

the consequence of choices past.

But,

as if some law of conservation

maintained a cosmic metaphysics,

their hope lost

may be gained

by him who would strain his eyes to trace

their vapor trails of glory

upward.

Poem: © 2022, Steven C. Wright

Painting: Falling Angels, by Bruce Herman, 1993. Mixed Media. 44 x 30 inches. Used by permission of the artist. (www.bruceherman.com)