The Angel On the Mantel
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the angel on the mantel
comes from an old wagon road
that cuts from desert brush
into the burnished hills
where creosote breaks up and scatters
at the base of the Chiricahuas
where Fort Bowie Calvary slaughtered
Apache braves
where an old cancerous man treks
miles of primitive trail
into the heart of a sacred mountain
for pure white marble, cut into blocks
and stacked
one hundred years ago
to wait for a truck that never came
it's an arduous journey
for a piece of rock
especially
for a man
half-blinded as a little boy
by that first nuclear blast
in that sneak attack on New Mexico
arduous
for a man riddled with cancer
who could be spending his days
easier
"what behooves you to do it?"
"it's something to do while I'm here," he says
"we all need something to do while we're here
even if you're sitting on your couch, watching t.v.
eating potato chips
it's something to do
this is what I enjoy, so this is what I do"
he finds his chunk of marble
it tells him what it's supposed to be
he sculpts the figure
as he sees it
roughly
and really not rough at all
for he feels
more than he sees
and you feel
what he sees
angel on the mantel
do you feel me
Copyright © Steven Young | Year Posted 2022
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