wings of desire

Angels wish they had beards
To enjoy the pleasure of the sound
of scraping the passage of time from faces
worn with sorrows, lighted with joys.
They wish too to sense the clarity of lemons
and to smell the scent of someone in love.
They want to hear a lover say,
"I will always tease your flesh."
In their airy kingdoms beyond this world,
In their beautiful indifference,
In their silent stillness,
They dream, always, their own betrayals:
To grow old and ill, even to die,
And to hear a lover say,
even once, if only once,
"I would rather lose you to another lover than to God."

-- Wim Wenders and Peter Handke