As Earth began with first each few
Ten million years then hundred thousand then
Ten thousand thousand hundred ten and now
Each week almost each day began
To seem like Heaven more like heaven in his eyes
The hastily assembled angel more
Slowly as time moved forward seemed at least
To move things changed and time seemed to be there
Somewhere between the insides of and out-
side changing things and each new generation
Of human beings saw most familiar things replaced and most
How else could they survive the angel
That Time Is A Refining Fire
Shane McCrae
Shane McCrae is the author of the poetry collections The Many Hundreds of the Scent and Cain Named the Animal: Poems as well as a memoir, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun. He lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University.