Somebody asked me <br />but I'm not going <br />to argue about <br /> <br />the topic of the soul, <br />deduce or repeat <br />inductive facts <br /> <br />for its evidence. <br /> <br />For me it's what <br />the Alsatian poet meant <br />when he wrote of <br /> <br />the 'precision of <br />the indefinable.' <br /> <br />And I've risen <br />in the plain rinse <br />of that precision <br /> <br />a couple times before, <br />and before that. <br /> <br />But I don't have any <br />depth for angels, <br />not Lawrence's angel <br /> <br />which he thought was made <br />when a man's soul <br />blended into <br /> <br />a woman's soul. And not <br />Rilke's angels-their beauty- <br />which he believed <br /> <br />was nothing but <br />the beginning <br />of a terror <br /> <br />he could just <br />barely endure. <br />I think there is <br /> <br />something somewhat <br />neurotic about <br />the prestige <br /> <br />and rarity <br />of angels-so, <br />I'll stay plain, <br /> <br />even crude, <br />a turkey buzzard <br />among herons <br /> <br />and ruby-crowned kinglets. <br />And I'd be cautious <br />of angels-Constantine the Great <br /> <br />for instance, contracted leprosy <br />after dreaming of an angel <br />pouring water on him.<br /><br />Doren Robbins<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/against-angels/
