THE REDUNDANT ANGEL

year in year out
the marble angel
clocked into the graveyard

same old job
looking sorrowful for the dead
in clement or inclement weather

the constant
human crying
getting on her nerves

human life so fragile
as Heaven calls them
the great here and gone

but the forgetting
the worse to bear
no one remembers who's buried there

a century old cold
an icicle
hanging from a nose

half chipped away
a lichen
tear

so minus an arm
left with a broken wing
the angel makes good her escape

rising up into the air
the marble heavy upon her
taking to the Christmas sky

snow
getting in
her blinded eyes

only to find
Heaven was
no longer there

closed for repairs
due to a lack of
belief

the dawn
of a new century
seeing her

broken by
the graveyard wall
praying to herself