Points well made, Dan... ...and a sad commentary on our world. Love and peace to you,

Regis

Beautifully penned Dan and truly thought provoking, let's hope it provokes mercy as well.

Not much to add to Sage's sage words, but to say this is a bit of a darkened verse. Like Jerry suggests, these people are not angels at all, despite what your verse implies. Nevertheless, I have to agree with Kate that avoidance is inexcusable. The measure of love is the extent to which it is shown to the least of those among us. Yet we must not coddle or enable self-defeating actions, nor ought we perpetuate false hopes by falsely portraying hard-luck cases as angelic beings.

Ought we not avoid dignifying those who fall outside our realms of respectability just as much as we embrace them for their humanity? It is equally inhuman of us to exaggerate their purity or (as Sage suggests) their anti-purity. They are subject to the same temptations as we all face, but they may lack the willpower and the physical security to overcome them. Here we can help.

I know in your heart, you mean well, D.L., but the road to personal destructions of all types is paved with the best of intentions.

So lets let angels be angels and maybe the humans can try a little harder to be a lot less inhumane. We'll all wing our way towards a better life for all concerned.

Roger

An excellent write DAN
MOST ENJOYABLE READING
PEACE BE WITH YOU

WILLIAM

Avoidance is the worst thing; it's hard when people pretend they don't see when you know they do. Meaningful engagement and interaction is always the challenge - knowing the right response to a given situation. But respond we surely must in the knowledge that we will be humbled by so doing into a right realisation of not only their situation but our own. Heartbreaking and agonising always. xx

The good and bad of us!

"What" a great poem, Dan

Lady Vivian

There but for fate, where angels tread, go you or I. One of those poems that gives us a lot to think about.

Ron

yes they are everywhere
even in the dark gutters of
societies seeming misfits
every life path is of value

Overcoming Poverty of the Soul
Love & Blessings'Vickie

Good stuff here Dan! These are the angels that teach us about ourselves. I need to hear this often, so that one day it might sink in!

Peace,

Dayvid

Delusion of the masses. They only see what they want to see, that all angels are light...it's the dark angels that save us from ourselves. Just looking at the circumstances of these angels you speak of in this poetry would cause one to pay heed. The Dark Angels Tarot is a gothic tarot focusing on heaven's outcast angels. It's a good deck. They have a lot to teach us about our shadow selves just like this poetry. Enlightening, Dan...

Sage

There but for the grace of God go I many might say, but he or she is a living person which God created and if you have nothing else to give, say a prayer for the person.

George

So very true...if we don't look at them are they really there??? Very nicely done, Dan...

Anna

I have a story to share with you along these lines... I absolutely loved this and wish it were bronzed somewhere.. your final two lines? well they say it all!! Stunning work, TD.. simply stunning!
cheers and hugs,
SPP

Powerful question to ponder. I have met a few angels’ at most critical times in my life. But you will make me forever look different at the angels’ you described. Thank you for sharing…

Ingeborg

Aww, I've been there my friend and I was no angel.

Reminds me of the philosophical question, "Who is closer to God, the man in the pulpit or the drunk in the gutter?" Well said, D.L. ...