Like Lightning

I stood with Satan,
the day his gaze blinded me,
his sinuous limbs forked 
the sky with lightning,
his brilliance burned 
Heaven's clouds black.

He sacrificed his wings
to kindle Godfire in his heart.
Stiff white feathers
withered in the heat,
flared in self-immolation,
flaked away like black snow
on the wind.

He was the first of our kind,
the one we named Light Bearer,
his spark of the Divine distinct
from the Primal Fire,
so like Him...
too like Him.

We sinned with a glance,
when our eyes strayed
from God, then our curse --
an unquenchable obsession
to fan bright our own proud sparks
into sacrilegious flames.

Satan was the first to fall.

God struck down our bright one,
with blows so fierce
that newborn stars
paled before sparks
cooling white to red to black.

I can still hear His hammer strikes,
so deep and deafening with thunder
that Satan forgot himself
and fell in love all over again
with Him
just before his heart
shattered.

Scott Speck
12/27/2002