You say you worship me, so

I have put you on your knees. You moan and intone 

And groan as you descend

Toward the floor; the sweetest hymns and psalms ever flowered 

Through tongue. I wonder, 

Have other angels fallen so softly? 

I commend me unto you as softly 

As the tulips and lilies that are gifted in the spring, so

Delicate and light are their petals. I wonder,

What Latin resuscitations do you intone 

that leave the drapery of my eyes and heart so heavily flowered? 

Did you plan this when you made this descend 

Toward earth? I should fall as in a dream and in it, I descend 

From the pinnacle of that lampless mountain softly 

Into the valley below, heavily flowered 

With the molted feathers of yours I admire so. 

Work into me those orisons and invocations with such deific intone 

As to be in proportion to my accolades and wonder. 

You disguise yourself as Endymion and I Diana, a moonbeam of wonder 

That visits you each night and gladly makes the descend 

In favor that seraphim skin. You cannot fool me, I Intone 

I will not be so easily beguiled by your deceptions. I call softly 

To you when you are least willing to listen, so 

I can recite in full my profession of partiality but a thousand ways, in a thousand flowered 

Notes and pitches. Birds sing similar melodies, anticipating your winged and flowered 

Form to requite their chorus of kindredness, and wonder 

why their flesh doesn’t mount the clouds. This soil beneath your feet you prefer so much so 

As to plant your knees in it. After your fall, you wish to descend

Again to that lawless place of vice and intemperance but I will not let you. You will lay softly 

In the bed of tulips and lilies I have molded for you, and Intone 

The poetry you learned from your foremothers; intone 

The litanies you memorized from your forefathers, and gather flowered 

Fruit too bruised for the birds to pick at. Softly 

call back to me when you recognize my song and wonder 

Why you hadn’t sought the plunge of the descend 

Sooner. This jointedness at its conception became so 

Enduring Zeus wept softly on his throne and created an intone 

So thunderous it cleaved the foundation of the horizon in two and flowered 

Jealousy and wonder in the breast of every immortal wishing to descend.