Angel emerging, John Lyons (unfinished, 70 x 50 cm, oil on canvas)

On the drawing board
       of creation an angel
emerges to save my soul
       Who in the dark night
has not heard her cry
       banished from paradise
she scours the earth
       imparting love
where love is due
       softening the sharp
edges of what we know
       to be universe

In silence she descends
       a flutter of wings
gentler than those
       of any species of moth
to dry tears where they fall
       a sparrow or a nightingale
crude prototypes in comparison 
       from the dawn of time
Come sweet angel free me
       from this soiled earth
and lift me up to that heaven
       where you and I belong

John Lyons

Corrected text