A Crisis of Angels

By Royal Rhodes

---

The scattered shepherds
knew these bright beings
were not carol singers --
the kind that the poets
knew came at a cost.
Each had multiple wings,
covered with wide-open eyes.
Unbearable in beingness
that answered human
cries of horror in the night
with antiphons of song
in calls and a response.
Thousands upon thousands
of migratory creatures,
despite their radiance,
came to seem like us,
but with eyes and open mouths
emitting smoke and heat and fire.
What had caused their fright
was here, evoking awe:
the Highest, Lord of Hosts,
is a cold child whom we hold
in unsteady, human hands.

---

Royal Rhodes taught religious studies for almost 40 years. His poems have appeared in various journals, including Ekstasis, Ekphrastic Review, The Seventh Quarry, and The Montreal Review, among others. His poetry and art collaborations have been published with The Catbird [on the Yadkin] Press in North Carolina.

Royal's other work on Foreshadow:
A Road Through Ohio Spring (Poetry, April 2023)
A Pilgrim's Song (Poetry, May 2023)
Journey to Silence (Poetry, July 2023)
Remember David (Poetry, July 2023)
Magnolia (Poetry, October 2023)
A Morning Walk into Light (Poetry, November 2023)