Angelic Poem by Daniel Brick

Angels appear in some of my poems. Sometimes they come uninvited and surprise me. Other times I summon them, as in this poem.I find angels to be a convenient symbol (perhaps too convenient) of human aspirations, or of possible evolution to a higher state of consciousness. Actually, I do not have any belief in angels as existent beings. In that sense, they can only be symbols to me, but they are potent and resonant symbols. Wallace Stevens has a poem, 'Angel Surrounded by Paysans', in which the Angel speaks: 'I am the necessary angel of earth, /Since, in my sight, you see the earth again, /Cleared of its stiff and stubborn, man-locked set....' Precisely, the angel embodies the higher mind which sees beyond the normal, limited mind, and summons us to fulfill a higher purpose. In this poem, I see a person whose maturation or self-development has stalled for some reason; the potential is there (the wings) but it's not released (prisoned wings) . The arrival of the guardian angel is the catalyst which does release the trapped energy, and the endless flight is the life the person should be living and now will be living. Of course, if someone who has a religious faith, particularly Christian, wants to take this poem literally, and see the transformation as the effect of God's grace and blessing, that is perfectly fine with me. And for those who do, I am delighted I could give you the words and images that your religious beliefs animated.