Angels Are Still Heralding
Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash
A Poem by Riley Morsman
Angels are still heralding
if only you'll listen:
nuthatches and titmice,
chickadees and jays
still let songs trumpet
forth despite the world
browning around them.
Wind in the chimes,
in the leaves. The last
of cricket legs dancing
in the dew. Our lungs,
suddenly capable
of making clouds that rush
to join the morning fog.
All of it glory, glory, glory
in the highest.
Angels are still heralding
if only you'll linger and look:
the flicker of a candle
flame, a sermon of welcome
and warmth. The way dusk
inches closer, like a blanket
of promised rest. The way
our eyes adjust to realize
the darkness is full
of violet and velvet
and a thousand shades
of blue. The pines, still
green when all is barren.
And the cardinal—crimson
against fresh, white snow.
It really is all glory, glory,
glory in the highest.
Yes, the angels are still
heralding in the quiet
kind of way that somehow
is the loudest, and their
song is always the same:
Angel meets shepherds.
Heaven meets womb.
A star meets a stable.
All-knowing, all-powerful
meets fragile, helpless babe.
Highest meets lowest,
and all of it is glory,
glory, glory.
The angels are still
heralding—will always
be heralding—and their song
was written for a choir.
A choir of chickadee
cheer and dead leaf
dances and snow
covered streets glowing
in the night. Choir
of candlelit kitchens
and cricket fiddles
and the paintings left
by frost on the windows.
Choir of pine trees and
pining for none of it to pass
by while blinking, for all
of it to seep in slowly
and deeply. Maybe
if we take time to notice,
we've already begun
to sing along.
Glory, glory, glory—
how can we not
sing along?
Riley Morsman is a graduate of Kansas State University as well as Iowa State University’s MFA program in Creative Writing & Environment. Her poems and essays have been published in Calla Press Literary Journal, Fathom Magazine, Coffee + Crumbs, and elsewhere. Riley’s current projects include a poetry collection about the prairie and a hybrid memoir about matrilineage and mental health. She currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband and two toddlers. You can find her on Instagram and Substack at @rileybethmo.
