Poems

For Christmas Eve three poems I wrote that I like to share this time of year.

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"Incarnation"

This is the emptying.
The release of heaven.
The descent
into the warmth
of a young girl's womb.
Vitally yoked
to her heartbeat and life.
Sharing the scandal
and embarrassment of flesh.
A covenant of love
sealed in ligament and bone.
Glory
to God in the Highest.
Glory
here in straw and blood.

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"Luke 2.8-14"

they did not seem to notice,
grazing, oblivious
that the sky was burning,
that this world was ending.
above
each icy fleck
grew and warmed,
and exploded into this conflagration of heaven.
nor did they seem to hear,
grazing, deaf
to the melody cascading
over the grass and ceders.
a Song
that seemed so very old
and ancient,
but News to us.

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"Joseph"

The air is cool on the skin
and fresher out here
away from the animals.
She is sleeping now.
Tired, but happy.
The baby too.
He nursed well.
Latching on
after only a bit of trouble.
The stars seem so close.
I think of angels
and dreams.
The thin cobwebs
and the spiders of doubt,
brushed away when she wept in pain
with water and blood.
And me standing helpless.
A witness.
This was no nocturnal promise or sleepy visitation
to be cross-examined upon my awakening.
This was a mother
and the birth of a son.