Author's Note: This piece is inspired by “13 Angels Standing Guard ‘Round Beside Your Bed” by A Silver Mount Zion.
Bio: Mercury-Marvin Sunderland (he/him) is a transgender autistic gay man with Borderline Personality Disorder. He's from Seattle and currently attends the Evergreen State College. He's been published by University of Amsterdam's Writer's Block, UC Davis' Open Ceilings, UC Riverside's Santa Ana River Review, UC Santa Barbara's Spectrum, and The New School's The Inquisitive Eater. His favorite soda is Inca Cola, which is a Peruvian soda that tastes like bubble gum. His lifelong dream is to become the most banned author in human history. He's @RomanGodMercury on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
MERCURY-MARVIN SUNDERLAND
THIRTEEN ANGELS
at night before i sleep
stand thirteen angels
‘round my bed
& i don’t just mean
ghosts with
halos & harps
great mighty beings with
bodies of rings
& many pairs of
feathered wings
all body & feather
covered in eyes.
& i don’t mean that as in metaphor
i mean that as in
thirteen angels
‘round my bed
seen yet again
before i sleep tonight
speaking
right into my ear
leaning over
both sides of my body
& it’s not
the first time
i’ve hallucinated
it won’t be
the last
but here these angels stay
over my eyes
that try to be sleeping
are you here
to protect me
or are you here
to claim me
i know that the two
are not mutually exclusive
but i’ve been so sick lately
i had to go
to the emergency room
did i make it?
my fragile body
could barely hold itself today
i thought i would’ve died
just like
my close friend fin
who at the age of twenty
called their family
telling them they’d go to the emergency room
tomorrow morning
was found dead
the next sunrise
if you take me
i will be happy
to see them
tonight i sleep &
i don’t see the light.
somehow i’m alive
but i’m still unsure
if these angels came
to help
or to claim.