The Urgency of Angels

Angels we have heard on high –
the song echoes through your head all day,
it’s comfort and familiarity a blessing
on this strange Christmas Eve we all are living,

Never thinking of the urgency of angels.
the bursting need to share a message of light
in a dark, dark world, the need, absolute need
to say, “it will be OK. The savior comes”

An unimaginable savior, small and weak
and irrepressibly human, never able
to live to the expectations of history and prophecy,
but instead, something better, more powerful,

a love that was made to spread, build up, lift.
A love that fills the empty spaces,
strengthens when there is no strength,
a perfect gift in a time like this.

No wonder the urgent song of the angels.
Then. And now.

About this poem.

I am finally starting to feel Christmas. And none too soon.

The picture was taken in Rome.

Tom