Crying Angels

by Anthony M. Coppola
(Simpson College Senior, Indianola, IA)

In a brand new millennium,
Through an atmosphere of fire,
God looked down on fear-stricken faces.
Seeing bloodied and beaten
The bodies of His children,
He knew right away
Something had to be done.
He called on some angels,
Sending them
To the war zones,
Where they walked
Through the blood fields
Of the poor and the dead.
Through the Mid-East,
And Central America,
Even the birth land of Christ.
From near back to far,
And inside and out.
The angels were invincible,
Yet carried no guns.
Called only to be there where
Love was attacked.
They’d kneel by each dead man,
And woman and child,
And they’d weep without ceasing
For the theft of a life.
They’d sob in the crosshairs
In the sight of the triggers
And the scopes of the bombers
And the soldiers of war,
So that one by one
People would recognize people
As nothing but humans
In the midst of the fire.