Israfel
Israfel
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Israfel
Israfel, dost thou know of thy
sweet music
As it brings forth our eternal embrace
And at last gives us the promise of
Letting go, the eternal sleep?
Beautiful Israfel, dost thou know
Of thy trumpets blast that
Awakens us to the dawning of
A new world?
For all of our peace
Are thou angry
Lovely Israfel?
As sleep eludes you
The most important of angels?
As you see what we have
That you cannot
Not your master’s love
But simply the
Will. To. Choose.
Yes, beloved Israfel,
Do you wish not to bring thy trumpet up again
For not having the ability to choose whom you can love?
And Lucifel forgive it not be a
maiden of gold
But a man of blackened hair
Or even a weathered women
Forbid love and you shall obey your god
Deny God, and you shall be human
Wonderous Israfel
Dost thou know of love and hate
Or are thou as empty as God
On his thrown
A pedestal high above our world
His words never reaching his so-called children
So, Israfel
Prayeth thou never knows of love
Lest thou be called a devil and cast to hell
Thy wings torn and bloodied
Weep poor Israfel
And kiss sobbing Lucifel
In her fiery cage
As your master pokes at her black, matted wings
With his scepter
Holy Israfel
Raise your trumpet for her
And hope that it can reach her
And her beloved
Lilith, the last Eve
Raise your trumpet, Israfel
For all of us
But before you raise it again
Cast off thy white wings
And see what God hath forget to give you
Or perhaps, forsaken you
And when you blow that trumpet
She will be there
Lucifel, sweet, poor,
Welcome your children in your open arms
And forgive the Harbringer,
For he, like all of God’s creatures
Knows not what he does
Note: Israfel is one of God’s
highest angels. He warned Abraham of Sodom’s fall, he is the angel of music,
and when he blows his trumpet once, he will bring about the Judgment Day, and
when he blows it twice, he will wake us all up from our graves.
culture, Lucifel was an angel who somehow broke free
of her enslavement to God and fell in love with Eve. She believed that all
creatures should have an equal right in their fates and begged God to allow
angels their own wills. Furious at her, God turned her wings black as a brand
and sent her to hell. She returned, disguised as a
noble dragon, to warn her lover and told her that if she ate the apple that she
would become free. Eve did so and was cast out as well. After
having her first children. Eve became Lilith
and went to hell with Lucifel. Also in
with a male human priest toward the original time of Judgment and hid from
God’s wrath. Being one of the original angel, his power, the power of destruction
and resurrection, could not be reproduced so Judgment has been held off.
However, he was discovered, and as punishment for falling in with a man, he was
sentenced to death by God. He decided he would rather be with his human lover
and to do that, he could no longer be an angel, so he tore his wings off and
descended back to Earth.
Israfel: Version 2
Israfel in deaf heaven blows on
his horn
Lucifel in hell with her
Beloved Lilith
Cries for her children
They fall one by one
As God laughs
And all ends
Israfel looks upon the fallen
His once cold eyes
Full of tears
He raises the trumpet
And for another
His sweet music sounds
Beautiful enough that even the dead
Rise to hear it
God shakes in fury up in his heaven
Israfel caresses the ex-priests’
once cold cheek
And reaches to pull off his wings
One
Two
The sound of chicken bones going through a grinder
Fills the air
Three
Four
He cries out as each wing is wrenched from his slender back
His cries mingle with the music
But they are filled with love and not pain
With his lover’s hand in his, Israfel
walks
As Israfer.
Israfel: Version 3
Lucifel sees her children fall
As she had years before
To the cruel deity
That dares to call himself
God
She weeps for Israfel
Up in deaf heaven
Following his master
Not knowing
Simply obeying
The children of the earth
Call out to him
God is deaf
But not he
Israfel, crying
Only Israfel, hears their tears
And blows his trumpet again
God throws him from his golden perch
Into the deep blue sea
He sings with the whales
Maidens of loneliness
No one to love him
Only Lucifel, who opens her black
wings
In a holy embrace
We are all God’s children
But she is the one who loves us
Reflection: I wanted for a long time to write a poem with
religious overtones that wasn’t about God, so this is the result.
interesting that he made it into Shiganism, since the
religion is a mix of European and Asian religions and Christianity is seldom
used in the texts. I love Israfel firstly because he
is the angel of music and I am a violinist, so I have always felt as though he
is my angel. I also find it interesting that he is the bringer of Armageddon. I
also found it interesting that the Shiganist texts
state that God’s Judgment was to kill all ‘bad’ humans and take the ‘good’ ones
up to heaven. Yet, in both the bible and Shiganist
texts, he blows his trumpet a second time to bring all humans back to life.
Thus, this poem is a mix between telling Israfel’s
story, incorporating both religious stories, as well as making the point of,
what is evil and who can we trust? Lucifel was simply
sent from heaven for wanting to understand God and for wanting all angels to be
free. In that case, humans are just like Lucifel in
that we just want to live our lives in freedom, which is why I decided to write
the third version from her point of view. Whales are animals of music, and
their songs are said to be songs of sadness, singing out to others of their
kind so they will not be lonely. Therefore, I thought that Israfel
would have a lot in common with them. The revisions are from the point of humans,
Israfel, and Lucifel. The
first version, which I like the best because of the language and the idea, is
basically humans asking Israfel these questions. Does
he understand what he is doing and what his god really is,
is an important player in this tale, she is not a main character. I think only
version, the first one, because not only does it have some of the language from
the bible, I feel that readers can relate more to humans than angels. That, and
not many people are familiar with Shiganist mythology
and it is mostly present in the second version.