Fallen Angel

BY CAROLE NICHOLS

She is born in total innocence;
Her angel wings are purest white.
And in her simple baby dreams,
On those wings she takes flight.

As she grows and learns of life,
The wings take on another hue.
On the cherubic tot you'll see
That her wings are palest blue.

A young girls wings are rainbowed;
They reflect her outlook on the world.
They ripple with her zest for life,
And glimmer an iridescent pearl.

Something happens to Earth's angels
When they grow up. You see,
The wings can't take her high enough
To put her where she wants to be.

Her wings are now just in her way
And so she nervously puts them away.
She's determined to find the real world,
And the angel wings start to turn grey.

The woman finds her pleasures;
Indulges in them until she is full.
Her forgotten wings go brittle and tear;
The once gleaming surface, dark and dull.

Days go by, then months and years,
Till the good times are hard to find.
Then she remembers the simple, good life,
And wonders why she was so blind.

She longs to return to that happiness,
So she searches among her things.
She realizes just how foolish she was
To discard her precious angel wings.

There, in a dark and dusty corner,
She finds them, broken and black;
And she cries because she knows
Nothing will bring the pure white back.