I was an angel once
When I was young
They would tell my mother often
But In the mouth of a cave
on a moonless night
You handed me an orange
I ate by the sea
Green and acidic
my feathers became weighted
And year after year they fell
Like Gretel in the forest
With her makeshift trail
Why didn’t anyone find me?
Lessons, you said
But I was never good at homework
So I repeated them until I learned
stomach like your orange
Folded into myself
I wept but I couldn’t bleed
I remembered the taste
And wished I could find
that mouth of the cave by the sea
On a moonless night
I’d ask for an apple
ripe
crisp
sweet
Perhaps if I’d done that
On that night in the cave
Then I might still have my wings