THE WAYS TO SEE AND BE AN ANGEL
I
So then an angel is the one
who comes with us,
stepping into our shadow
and turns up when we are
on the brink of kissing a bitter mouth;
the one who, at times, doesn’t show
but leaves us in the face of death alone
in an abyss much greater than ourselves.
Homero Aridjis
Translated by George McWhirter