I
A light in his workshop
unlocked his sleep and, fearing
a fire, the shoemaker
ran barefoot
across the snow
and opened the door.
The angel was waiting
on sapphire feet.
The shoemaker measured,
marked, and cut. Soles,
foxing, and tips fell
from the burnished calfskin,
laid to rest on the wooden last,
like a foot unfit for walking.
He crimped and stitched,
and the angel watched,
and the shop grew hot
as a foundry. He threaded
his needle with fire,
and with fire nailed heel
to sole, and with fire
pulled the shoes
from the last. The angel
put them on,
first the left,
then the right,
stepping so softly
even the snow did not speak of it.
—NANCY WILLARD
Visitation in a Pewter Dish
II
When Jacob finished stitching
the seventh pair of shoes,
his hands smelled of new
leather, as if the calf
whose mortal part he’d shaped
wanted to claim him.
Five blind bells woke
the fields at the edge of town.
Men left off binding the rain
into shocks of gold and rested
at noon under the plane trees.
Angelus Domini—
The cows were happy boulders,
and Jacob saw, in a pewter dish
on a dirty table, seven angels
lapped in their own light.
Prove all things, sang the dish.
Hold fast to that which is good.
Jacob said nothing, only watched
with great joy. Wheels clattered
on the cobbled streets.
Two customers paid with gold,
two with wool, three with pork,
and the shoes took their first steps
out of the fields of light.
—NANCY WILLARD
Jacob and the Angel
The chandelier of stars
hung low above the field
when the angel closed on him.
He could not pry
porphyritic fingers
from his thigh,
nor break the granite hold.
Stone has no heart for pity.
He was lamed before night’s end,
named before dawn;
shriven, driven, broken, repaired.
The angel could have gone on and on.
God asks much for little,
little for much.
We who have no choice must choose:
to win, to lose,
to wrestle with angels.
—JANE YOLEN
For the Angel of Death is forbidden to take a man while he is engaged in the study of Torah.
—from “Rabbi Loew and the Angel of Death” in Howard Schwartz’s Lilith’s Cave
Rabbi Loew and the Angel of Death
Leaving his studies,
sweet as honey,
thick as bread,
Reb Loew spies a figure
at the temple,
a long shadow
amid long shadows,
sharp knife readying
above the scroll of names.
Do not tremble,
Reb Loew,
your will
will halt the plague.
Leaving his studies,
sweet as new cream,
thick as wine,
Reb Loew spies a figure
in his study,
a small light
amid small lights,
single white rose
in his childish palm.
Do not tremble,
Reb Loew,
your hand will save your grandson,
your will
will vault the heavens,
and all the angels but one
will dance the letters of your name.
—JANE YOLEN
And when the young man went down to wash himself, a fish leapt out of the river, and would have devoured him.
—Tobit, VI: 2.
Tobias and the Fish
Grab this fish by the gills, said the angel,
and draw him to you, as if he came
by appointment to watch
our dry light drench his interior
castle, unshuttered at last.
Slit open the envelope of his flesh.
Lay his heart on a bed of coals.
When bad dreams trouble you,
the smoke’s thin fingers
will scroll up your sorrow.
Even the gall of this fish unclouds
eyes whited over with grief.
Alive, he swam beside us
and calmed the dark waters.
—NANCY WILLARD
The Archangel Michael Delivers a Sermon to the Stars
Mercury, Venus, the dancing sisters,
you think you spin in endless ellipses;
there is an end.
Saturn, Jupiter, the stars that touch
nose of bear, hunter’s arrow,
ram’s bright horns,
there is an end.
Uranus, Neptune, the bull’s hooves,
the bright fish tail,
there is an end.
All you stars and constellations,
all you black holes and planetary nations,
there is an end.
The heavens are but a bright orrery
set in motion by the breath of God.
—JANE YOLEN
About the Authors
NANCY WILLARD grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has written two novels, seven books of stories and essays, and twelve books of poetry, including The Sea at Truro (2012). A winner of the Devins Memorial Award, she has received NEA grants in both fiction and poetry. Her book Water Walker was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and she won the Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake’s Inn. Willard is an emeritus professor at Vassar College.
JANE YOLEN is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Born and raised in New York City, the mother of three and the grandmother of six, Yolen lives in Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for previously published material: “An Angel Considers the Naming of Meat” and “The Mission of the Puffball” originally appeared in Field. “An Angel Tells the Birds to Gather for the Great Supper of God” and “A Carol for the Shepherds” originally appeared in The Formalist. “An Inconvenience of Wings” originally appeared in Passages North. “Angels among the Servants” and “The Winged Ones” originally appeared in The New Yorker. “Angels in Winter” from Household Tales of Moon and Water, copyright © 1987 by Nancy Willard, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company. “Visitation in a Pewter Dish II” originally appeared in Caliban. “Gabriel Returns from the Annunciation” and “Tobias and the Fish” originally appeared in Confrontation: The Literary Journal of Long Island University. “Harpo and the Angel” originally appeared in The Laurel Review. “Angel in a Window” ori
ginally appeared in The Gettysburg Review, volume 8, number 1, and is reprinted here by permission of the editors. “The Lesson on Guardian Angels at Star of the Sea Elementary” originally appeared in New Letters. “Lucifer” and “Angels Fly” originally appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. “Harahel Writers on the Head of a Pin” originally appeared in the Catholic Library Association Journal.
Compilation Copyright © 1995 by Nancy Willard and Jane Yolen
Copyright © 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1990 by Nancy Willard
Copyright © 1995 by Jane Yolen
Cover design by Jesse Hayes
ISBN: 978-1-5040-2154-8
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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