i am reading byatt's angels and insects and thinking of the cleverness of the comparison - and thinking of the dorothy sayers too - "here then, at home...we fold our laborious hands, wings furled." and the image of furled wings and madeleine l'engle's seraphims and nephilims, and then this thurber quote coming to mind: "time's for dragonflies and angels. the former live too little, and the latter live too long." i like thurber.