Ballad of the Rebel Angels

Lilly Kelleher

After Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Fall of the Rebel Angels,

and William Butler Yeats’ The Second Coming

Shadowed figures crawl o’er the hills —

From what crevasse they came

No creature knows but may distil;

Eternal furnaced flame.

Scorched and razed all passing plains

Left desolate, behind

With ruling fist and blackened reign

They raised all passing kind.

The Rebel Angels circle round

Black skies fissure and roil, 

Their gilded swords conjured, unbound

And drawn from blackened soil.

Dredged from beyond the mortal coil 

Sallow creatures do trail 

Nature’s beauty waking, spoil’d

By force beyond the veil. 

Towards the blood-dimmed tide, advance

What rough beast does await?

The mountains part, from which they march

And from within, the Fate.

At once all creatures turn, sedate — 

A King, to look upon

Creature of feature desecrate  

Performs unholy song.

Willingly, him they do proceed,

Into cavernous depths

Parted, her maw agape for feed:

Creation are ingest. 

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Fall of the Rebel Angels.

—

Lilly Kelleher is 22 years old, and was born and raised in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She is currently studying English Literature and Creative Writing at Te Herenga Waka. She likes to write poetry and short fiction about dream-like landscapes, strange memories and shiny objects.

Featured image by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. 1525 1569. Antwerp. The Fall of the Rebel Angels. Brussels. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Via Flickr, 2015.