The Angel in the Barn

It’s hot, by God! - in Warranar,

It’s hot, too hot by far,

The sun leers down from a barren sky

To scorch the where-you-are!

 

The ground is hard, burnt dry within,

The snakes curl up and die,

And trees take on a crippled shape

As birds fall out of the sky!

 

The farm is dead, six months a year,

Brown earth and endless dust,

It never rains! Why do we stay?

Despair says that we must!

 

One night I lay all bathed in sweat,

A hot wind seared the plain,

I seemed to hear some scraping sound,

Then thought: ‘Could this be rain?’

 

Outside the moon had shed its light

All pale and gold on brown,

The iron door on the rusty barn

Then fell, came crashing down.

 

And so it was I saw the wings

Dragged slowly through the hay,

Some giant bird inside the barn,

Some giant bird of prey!

 

I took the rifle off the wall,

Walked slowly through the dark,

A shape lay on a bale of straw

I aimed! - The shape said: ‘Hark!

 

I have not come to punish you,

Please put the gun away!’

The voice was like a silvery bell

On the back of a bullock dray.

 

I edged in closer to the bird

And saw its wings were fine,

But underneath lay a slip of a girl

With lips as red as wine!

 

And blood showed on her pallid cheek,

Her arm lay twisted, torn,

I tried to help her up, she cried:

‘No! Leave me here, it’s warm!’

 

‘I’ll stay until my arm is healed,

I’ll not get in your way!’

But I was caught in a fevered dream

That told of her dismay!

 

And love swept through my blighted soul

As the days and the weeks went by,

I seemed to float, as in a dream

I heard my Angel cry.

 

‘I fell from out the sky,’ she said,

‘One day, as dark as this,

A single word from a thoughtless soul,

A blow from an angry fist!’

 

‘So evil lurks where Angels roam,

You fight these devils still?’

‘There is no good, nor evil there,

But man, his twisted will!’

 

‘Then why does God make Warranar

So hot, so lost in pain,

The trees cry out in their torture here,

And the ground, it bleeds for rain!’

 

‘Perhaps it’s not your God to blame,

Perhaps you send your spell

To the Dark Knight on the Horse of Fire,

Perhaps you writhe in Hell?’

 

I woke in bed, all soaked in sweat

And staggered out to the barn,

All that lay was a dead sheep

With a coat that hadn’t been shorn.

 

I walked away from Warranar

From my dry and barren farm,

And the love I’d seen in a dead sheep,

My Angel in the barn!

 

David Lewis Paget

 

Reviews

[Mark]

Another Paget classic! If I read it aright, the Angel in his dream is suggesting that his circumstances, at least, are the result of his own choices, and that perhaps the conditions in Warranar are the accumulation of the choices of all the people there? I admit, I was expecting something darker, with the "casting down" of an Angel, from "the sky"; perhaps the answer (rather than the explanation) to his problems might be found, but NOT in a good place or fashion!

[Wendy Seames Garner]

Very though provoking, do we only have ourselves to blame for our problems?

[patricia]

I fell from out the sky she said
One day, as dark as this
A single word from a thoughtless soul
A blow from an angry fist...............besides all the rest of the brilliant stuff here, this stanza blew me away. What a great motivator to think our behaviour might hurt an angel.
And the way having the angel in the barn awakened the sufferers love. It is all so very very readable. Thankyou.

[Tate Morgan]

Once more I read in rapture the words that seem to come so easilly.I am always trapped from the first stanza to the last totally amazed and humbled .You the master and I the pupil .We are honored to have you.Honored

[Dayran]

A wonderful way to draw the emotions into making a point. The death of innocence by way of the sheep, angel and dream blends incredibly into a revelation of the experience in us. A common man's poet.

[Valentine]

Thank God..you are back and in excellent form..I loved this one and am going to put it in my favorites pile..Great write david..Hope your carpel tunnel is doing better to Love and God bless Lyn and you..Kathie

[Raven Starhawk]

This has a unique style all its own here. Its originality is refreshing.