Four handsome angels,
Their wings like melting silver,
Fall from heaven,
Like statues toppling down.

Their porcelain faces,
Their thunderbolt eyes,
All dolls thrown down
With swords in hand.

And heads poised upward,
Down, down and down,
Like gentle beaming stars
Bleeding down through the sky.

Their hair is fire,
And their screams are hymns,
And slain they were
With their eyes to heaven.

And god, the father,
Said: "Thus always to traitors"
And scorn filled them
Like a thorn in the heart.

Four handsome angels,
Whose backs were turned,
Grinned like children
To the solid ground.

And how long the fall,
And how hard the ground,
But blessed four angels grin,
When the earth opened
And swallowed them whole.

Their hair was fire,
And their screams were hymns,
And slain they were
With their eyes to heaven.