The Black Angel Poem by W Taam

The Black Angel

Offered me two pills
'Take them both if you want,
I guarantee you'd feel better.'
The blue one was to bring me
back in time - a millisecond

or two, or a generation if I wished.
The red would make me heady
plough into a kaleidoscope of
color, sound - infinite pleasure
The state would remain

I thought a little bit - I still
had some semblance of thinking
I tried my best to look into
her eyes without blinking
Thirty seconds, a bird chirped

somewhere, I was sure it was
a robin. Ought I do this?
One, two, three
One: Take both - the consequences
would probably be calamitous

Two: The blue, I could start
over I guess - somehow tweak
and nudge the societal wrongs
I had always wanted to correct

Three: Sweet hedonism. I was sure
my soul would corrode, somewhere
like the wrought irons set out
at sea

The robin flew pass my head
noiselessly into the foliage
of the trees - I stared at
a leaf and contemplated its
design and color