Before Bed Prayer

by Hetanna

The little girl of Chapter 18 has been having dreams of the angel who once inadvertently crossed her path. And it is her ignorant, innocent wish for friendship that leads her to say this prayer before bed, in the hopes that the visions she has so often are more than a mere, forgotten memory of something fleeting.

I have a dream from time to time
About someone I don't know
About an angel trapped, encaged
With nowhere else to go

His wings are rather puny
But without a feather misplaced
And in his eyes, a youth, a glory
Permanently encased

I've never seen the boy before
But I think I know his name
It's like he's crying out to me
Each cry, the cry's the same

But I don't think that he wants to leave
I don't think that he's scared
Because over time I've realised
That he isn't all there

When I awake I look aside
And swear I see the light
That only a creature of the sky
Could see, and see so bright

It makes me feel as though I'll fly
If I can stand to try
Yet then a feeling of pure doubt
Chills me as it passes by

When I see him in my sleeping dream
It's as though I can see through
The youthful eyes of mystery
To the bottom of the blue

And those wings perched upon his back
Seem too light to be true
A feathered wing I imagined not
To take upon this hue

So now I see he isn't real
A dream, I already know
But even then, he's only half
An image that was whole

This euphoria the morning brings
I feel that it's residue
Is it so that he was here one time,
And he my heart pierced through?

Because I know him! Yet I don't—
It's hard to even think
To believe that I saw him once
I'm all but on the brink

So angel, now, I implore you
That if you're really there
Return to me, and listen in
To this before bed prayer

I've heard tales of new and old
And all that's in between
Of angels coming to our aid
But rarely now they're seen

If you were here once, or even twice
And touched me once before
Then maybe you could be my friend
Of those, I need more

Because, I'll be honest with you, angel;
I'm lonely on the ground
I want to know about the place
Within the sweet, soft clouds

So don't just come to me in my dreams
I want to see your face
I want to hear your tuneful voice
And feel your warm embrace

I've heard a lot about angels
That they'll come if you give prayer
But what is this? My tenth, my twelfth?
And I'm yet to see you there

Is it because I'm selfish?
That I've seen you once before?
Was that forgotten time that's passed
All I'm due, and due no more?

But I'll carry on and hope that
I'm right in what to my mind came
That because I see you in my dreams
You and I are one and the same

That our souls are combined and our hearts stemmed from one
Or that we were once much, much more
That all I don't recall is the time we were one
Or at least we were one, once before

My eyes are heavy in this night
And I can't stay awake too long
I'm just hanging on in the hopes that
You may come to tell me if I'm wrong

I'm just a human, just a tiny girl
And thus in the world I've no place
And if I regard myself too highly still
I want to know from you that case

So, shadow of angel, become one again
And the rest—reclaim this trace of your soul
I've held it too long, I want to give back
And that, there, is my sole goal

If only to know the truth of this vision
To know all this as a mistake
At least my hope would be put to rest
That a friend I could be to make