by Olivia Hales
Inspired by Alexandre Cabanel’s “The Fallen Angel”, 1847
I
This evening a woman saw a painting of the devil in the sky
and it left her wandering if she was
half-alive or half-dead
she slowly noticed a tear in his eye
and if left her wandering if it was
okay to have sympathy for the devil
she noticed the piercing pain
in the ravenous way he twisted his furious corpse
like the green ivy
his anger and body warp filling the drenches of his tears
she noticed the static horror
with which he clasped his hands
and it left her wondering if anyone else has ever felt such wrath
II
A few years later
she is now convinced
that every angel is bound
by tangled red wires to fall
(pushed by greed / killed by fate)
She learnt this lesson
when she tried to rearrange the silky strings of reality
attempted to see perfection in the mirror
a face in the soft milky moon
a painting in the sky
and place bloody wings on her back
(pushed by greed / killed by fate)
Olivia is an aspiring poet, aged 15, currently living in Italy. Her most practiced hobbies are writing, reading and dancing (which she has been doing for 10 years now) and she is an editor at the online magazine Adolescence. When she's not writing poetry at 3 am she is probably re-watching Dead Poets Society (again!) or listening to The Smiths, drinking coffe and reading beside her 5 cats. You can find her on Instagram @oliviafrances_writes.