angels we are,
with cathedrals,
poems and prophets
to prove it  

what species  
is endowed with such gifts?

the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
the pyramids, loosing the bounds of earth to walk on a moon...
the atomic bomb, Anthrax,
and gunfire

are we maggots
on rotting fruit, sated now,
looking to escape before the fruit falls fast  
to the ground, before the oceans rise
and the skies fill with ash?

can we not fly away?
no, for we are wingless angels,  
killer angels