FLARE OF HER ARC

Angel tumbles from orbit
skipping sparks across the
ionosphere
streaking across the
desert dusk
children making wishes on
upon the Angel's burning body
as she throws pale
greens and yellows in the
flare of her arc
"keep mommy safe tonight"
"don't let this love be fleeting"
folding into herself as
she races to oblivion
carrying the hopes of those that see her
upward
into the sailor's charts
into the menagerie of the ancients
into the blinking decorations of the past
The embers of the halo and wings
drift, orange and glowing,
like drunken fireflies
out in all directions
in the wake of the comet Angel
She blesses the air before her
she blesses the ground below
she forgives the gravity and the planet
for the row she will plow
in the inert earth
in the fixed point in time
Eternity falls away from her
Her final grace
as soil and Angel
erupt and blossom
outward
out into the world
down into the roots
and up into the breaths
scattershot redemption
and blessing
salting the Earth
and kissing the wishes
up to Heaven