{"id":6292,"date":"2014-10-09T12:34:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/?p=6292"},"modified":"2026-01-15T19:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:24:18","slug":"the-magic-of-angels-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/?p=6292","title":{"rendered":"The Magic of Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I needed a little magic to lift my spirits. My husband pointed out that the temperature would not get above 11\u00baC, no matter how hard it tried! Ugh!! This is the slow descent into Winter. Help, I needed a reprieve. I needed to be reminded that there is more to life than the daily “grind,” the slow descents, the greys….. I needed “Magic Wednesday.”<\/p>\n

When all else fails, I turn to poetry, to see the world in a different light. My favourite poet lately has been Billy Collins. Today I found an amazing poem of his on angels –<\/p>\n

\n

\nQuestions About Angels<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

BY BILLY COLLINS<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nOf all the questions you might want to ask<\/div>\n
\nabout angels, the only one you ever hear<\/div>\n
\nis how many can dance on the head of a pin.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nNo curiosity about how they pass the eternal time<\/div>\n
\nbesides circling the Throne chanting in Latin<\/div>\n
\nor delivering a crust of bread to a hermit on earth<\/div>\n
\nor guiding a boy and girl across a rickety wooden bridge.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nDo they fly through God’s body and come out singing?<\/div>\n
\nDo they swing like children from the hinges<\/div>\n
\nof the spirit world saying their names backwards and forwards?<\/div>\n
\nDo they sit alone in little gardens changing colors?<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nWhat about their sleeping habits, the fabric of their robes,<\/div>\n
\ntheir diet of unfiltered divine light?<\/div>\n
\nWhat goes on inside their luminous heads? Is there a wall<\/div>\n
\nthese tall presences can look over and see hell?<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nIf an angel fell off a cloud, would he leave a hole<\/div>\n
\nin a river and would the hole float along endlessly<\/div>\n
\nfilled with the silent letters of every angelic word?<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nIf an angel delivered the mail, would he arrive<\/div>\n
\nin a blinding rush of wings or would he just assume<\/div>\n
\nthe appearance of the regular mailman and<\/div>\n
\nwhistle up the driveway reading the postcards?<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A Fall (not fallen) Angel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nNo, the medieval theologians control the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe only question you ever hear is about<\/div>\n
\nthe little dance floor on the head of a pin<\/div>\n
\nwhere halos are meant to converge and drift invisibly.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nIt is designed to make us think in millions,<\/div>\n
\nbillions, to make us run out of numbers and collapse<\/div>\n
\ninto infinity, but perhaps the answer is simply one:<\/div>\n
\none female angel dancing alone in her stocking feet,<\/div>\n
\na small jazz combo working in the background.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nShe sways like a branch in the wind, her beautiful<\/div>\n
\neyes closed, and the tall thin bassist leans over<\/div>\n
\nto glance at his watch because she has been dancing<\/div>\n
\nforever, and now it is very late, even for musicians.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\nThere, that’s better. Oh and I’ll have a glass of unfiltered divine light – hmmm make that two \ud83d\ude42 –<\/p>\n

Have an awesome day!!<\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I needed a little magic to lift my spirits. My husband pointed out that the temperature would not get above 11\u00baC, no matter how hard it tried! Ugh!! This is the slow descent into Winter. Help, I needed a reprieve. I needed to be reminded that there is more to life than the daily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6294,"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6292\/revisions\/6294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeiswhathappens.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}