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Angel Poems

Table of Contents

  1. Adrift! A little boat adrift! by Emily Dickinson
  2. Angels in the early morning by Emily Dickinson
  3. Playmates by Emily Dickinson
  4. To fight aloud is very brave by Emily Dickinson
  5. The Angel by William Blake
  6. The Angels of Man by Bliss Carman
  7. I Felt an Angel by Anonymous
  8. Letters Are Small Angels by Annette Wynne
  9. Air and Angels by John Donne
  10. The Angels Word by Elizabeth Hedge Webster

  1. Adrift! A little boat adrift!

    by Emily Dickinson

    Adrift! A little boat adrift!
    And night is coming down!
    Will no one guide a little boat
    Unto the nearest town?

    So sailors say, on yesterday,
    Just as the dusk was brown,
    One little boat gave up its strife,
    And gurgled down and down.

    But angels say, on yesterday,
    Just as the dawn was red,
    One little boat o'erspent with gales
    Retrimmed its masts, redecked its sails
    Exultant, onward sped!

  2. Angels in the early morning

    by Emily Dickinson

    Angels in the early morning
    May be seen the dews among,
    Stooping, plucking, smiling, flying:
    Do the buds to them belong?

    Angels when the sun is hottest
    May be seen the sands among,
    Stooping, plucking, sighing, flying;
    Parched the flowers they bear along.

  3. Playmates

    by Emily Dickinson

    God permits industrious angels
    Afternoons to play.
    I met one, — forgot my school-mates,
    All, for him, straightway.

    God calls home the angels promptly
    At the setting sun;
    I missed mine. How dreary marbles,
    After playing Crown!

  4. To fight aloud is very brave

    by Emily Dickinson

    To fight aloud is very brave,
    But gallanter, I know,
    Who charge within the bosom,
    The cavalry of woe.

    Who win, and nations do not see,
    Who fall, and none observe,
    Whose dying eyes no country
    Regards with patriot love.

    We trust, in plumed procession,
    For such the angels go,
    Rank after rank, with even feet
    And uniforms of snow.

  5. The Angel

    by William Blake

    I Dreamt a Dream! what can it mean?
    And that I was a maiden Queen:
    Guarded by an Angel mild;
    Witless woe, was neer beguil'd!

    And I wept both night and day
    And he wip'd my tears away
    And I wept both day and night
    And hid from him my hearts delight

    So he took his wings and fled:
    Then the morn blush'd rosy red:
    I dried my tears & armd my fears,
    With ten thousand shields and spears.

    Soon my Angel came again;
    I was arm'd, he came in vain:
    For the time of youth was fled
    And grey hairs were on my head

  6. The Angels of Man

    by Bliss Carman

    The word of the Lord of the outer worlds
    Went forth on the deeps of space,
    That Michael, Gabriel, Rafael,
    Should stand before his face,
    The seraphs of his threefold will,
    Each in his ordered place.

    Brave Michael, the right hand of God,
    Strong Gabriel, his voice,
    Fair Rafael, his holy breath
    That makes the world rejoice, —
    Archangels of omnipotence,
    Of knowledge, and of choice;

    Michael, angel of loveliness
    In all things that survive,
    And Gabriel, whose part it is
    To ponder and contrive,
    And Rafael, who puts the heart
    In every thing alive.

    Came Rafael, the enraptured soul,
    Stainless as wind or fire,
    The urge within the flux of things,
    The life that must aspire,
    With whom is the beginning,
    The worth, and the desire;

    And Gabriel, the all-seeing mind,
    Bringer of truth and light,
    Who lays the courses of the stars
    In their stupendous flight,
    And calls the migrant flocks of spring
    Across the purple night;

    And Michael, the artificer
    Of beauty, shape, and hue,
    Lord of the forges of the sun,
    The crucible of the dew,
    And driver of the plowing rain
    When the flowers are born anew.

    Then said the Lord: "Ye shall account
    For the ministry ye hold,
    Since ye have been my sons to keep
    My purpose from of old.
    How fare the realms within your sway
    To perfections still untold?"

    Answered each as he had the word.
    And a great silence fell
    On all the listening hosts of heaven
    To hear their captains tell,—
    With the breath of the wind, the call of a bird,
    And the cry of a mighty bell.

    Then the Lord said: "The time is ripe
    For finishing my plan,
    And the accomplishment of that
    For which all time began.
    Therefore on you is laid the task
    Of the fashioning of man;

    "In your own likeness shall he be,
    To triumph in the end.
    I only give him Michael's strength
    To guard him and defend,
    With Gabriel to be his guide,
    And Rafael his friend.

    "Ye shall go forth upon the earth,
    And make there Paradise,
    And be the angels of that place
    To make men glad and wise,
    With loving-kindness in their hearts,
    And knowledge in their eyes.

    "And ye shall be man's counsellors
    That neither rest nor sleep,
    To cheer the lonely, lift the frail,
    And solace them that weep.
    And ever on his wandering trail
    Your watch-fires ye shall keep;

    "Till in the far years he shall find
    The country of his quest,
    The empire of the open truth,
    The vision of the best,
    Foreseen by every mother saint
    With her new-born on her breast."

  7. I Felt an Angel

    by Anonymous

    I felt an angel near today, though one I could not see
    I felt an angel oh so close, sent to comfort me
    I felt an angel's kiss, soft upon my cheek
    And oh, without a single word of caring did it speak
    I felt an angel's loving touch, soft upon my heart
    And with that touch, I felt the pain and hurt within depart
    I felt an angel's tepid tears, fall softly next to mine
    And knew that as those tears did dry a new day would be mine
    I felt an angel's silken wings enfold me with pure love
    And felt a strength within me grow, a strength sent from above
    I felt an angel oh so close, though one I could not see
    I felt an angel near today, sent to comfort me.

  8. Letters Are Small Angels

    by Annette Wynne

    Letters are small angels flying in between
    All the houses of the town, red, and gray, and green;
    And the postman helps them, shows them just the way,
    As he walks along the street smiling all the day.
    Take the letters gladly—with their white, white wings,
    Blessèd little angels, telling happy things!

  9. Air and Angels

    by John Donne

    Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee,
    Before I knew thy face or name;
    So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame
    Angels affect us oft, and worshipp'd be;
    Still when, to where thou wert, I came,
    Some lovely glorious nothing I did see.
    But since my soul, whose child love is,
    Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do,
    More subtle than the parent is
    Love must not be, but take a body too;
    And therefore what thou wert, and who,
    I bid Love ask, and now
    That it assume thy body, I allow,
    And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow.

    Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,
    And so more steadily to have gone,
    With wares which would sink admiration,
    I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught;
    Ev'ry thy hair for love to work upon
    Is much too much, some fitter must be sought;
    For, nor in nothing, nor in things
    Extreme, and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere;
    Then, as an angel, face, and wings
    Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear,
    So thy love may be my love's sphere;
    Just such disparity
    As is 'twixt air and angels' purity,
    'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be.

  10. The Angel's Word

    by Elizabeth Hedge Webster

    Fear not, fear not, though trials press,
    And sorrows dark around you throng;
    My peace I give, my peace to bless;
    Be strong! O yea I say—be strong!

    What though the hosts of darkness try
    In wrath your conflict to prolong,
    Fear not, fear not, but bid them fly,
    Be strong! O yea I say—be strong.

    Come then and launch the shoreless deep
    O sweetly sing the heavenly song,
    The angels time we now will keep
    Here's peace and love, be strong, be strong.

    Fear not beloved, fear ye not
    In love be like that holy throng
    As undefiled and free from spot,
    Here's peace and love, be strong, be strong.

    And [the angel] said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.

    – Daniel 10:19a
    KJV

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