Un Señor Muy Viejo Con Unas Alas Enormes(A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes
(A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS)


with a fat splat
it landed at my left boot

it looked like an angel
illustrated in the Good Book

but it was no more
bigger than a chicken

"Are you an angel?
I enquired politely

trying to keep tabs
of my thoughts ha ha

(can this be a happening
happening to me for real)

"I am the Angel Márquez! "
it stammered obviously

unused to words
and the speaking of them.

"Never heard of ya! " I giggled
nervous of myself now

"GobbledegookUnseñormuygobbledegook
viejocongobbledegookunasalasenormes! "

it squaked in some alien lingo
or Spanish I don't know! "

I gave it a kick
turned on my heel but

it followed me home
waddling like a duck who thought
it was a chicken who believed
in its soul it was an angel.

"I'm not having it! " snapped the wife
"Not in my home I ain't! "

"Put it in the chicken coop
maybe it might lay an egg."

We waited for days
for the angel to lay an egg.

But...no eggs.

We feed it the remains
of other chickens

but it just got weaker and weaker
and its wings grew smaller and smaller

until they grew
back into its back

until it looked
more chlicken-like than angel-like.

That evening
wife had prepared soup.

I slurpped it into
my greedy mouth.

"Oh this is divine…this is
heavenly! "
I mmmmed and ahhhhhed

"What in God's name
is it? "
I smiled from ear to ear
with my one tooth.

"It's angel soup! "
she beamed

she smiled with all of her
no teeth.

That night in bed
(well fed)

we had a good
old time.