Annunciation

Robin Robertson

       after Fra Angelico

He has come from the garden, leaving 

 no shadow, no footprint in the dew: 

 They hold each other's gaze at the point 

 of balance: everything streaming 

 towards this moment, streaming away. 

A word will set the seed 

 of life and death, 

 the over-shadowing of this girl 

 by a feathered dark. 

 But not yet: not quite yet. 

How will she remember the silence 

 of that endless moment? 

 Or the end, when it all began --

 the first of seven joys 

 before the seven sorrows? 

She will remember the aftersong 

 because she is only human. 

 One day 

 she'll wake with wings, or wake 

 and find them gone.