Angel Shark

Wan oxymoron of a fish, dotted
dun and fledge winged, mud-feathered when
it glides through silt, by nature bottom fed.

Whoever named it named himself a man
of undisputed Christian eye,
who saw in mortal depths a guardian

and humblest trumpeter. God tongue to cry,
it haunts an earth too dread for dread-
filled man til rapture calls: Arise and fly.

Copyright © 2004 Hailey Leithauser All rights reserved
from American Poetry Journal
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission