Be Not Afraid

Be Not Afraid

By Ilyin Costello

I think the mask 

Is watching 

I rose from my rest 

And began assembling 

Its eyes its wings 

The angel 

When I wore it 

It said “be not afraid” 

And I was afraid 

With an angel attached to my face 

Of what it would say 

Seeing cities of ash 

Cover people who prayed 

Trading their lives 

For blood on their blades 

But what would I say? 

With the angel 

Attached to my face? 

I’m A Fraud 

It tells me what comes before and after 

And I’m unphased 

It tells me about God 

And explains the drowned 

The times they weren’t praised 

And my face is stained 

By the angel I shaped 

Creation has met with a terrible fate

So I make my own 

Give it eyes and wings 

That say, 

“Be Not Afraid”