“Nativity” by Jane Beal

NATIVITY

Was your first cradle

reflected in the rolling eye

of the blue ox?

Were your white swaddling clothes

stuck through with bits

of golden hay?

What was the first lullaby

mother Mary sang into

the garden of your ear?

When your mouth was milk-wet,

did you breathe

on her leaping heart?

Were her eyes

reflected in your eyes

so the reflections went on for eternity?

A dream under a bright star,

angels, shepherds, Persian magi –

witnesses to a carpenter who midwifed a virgin,

a girl who gave birth to an infant king:

the gray donkey prays when he brays

and kneels down under Joseph’s gentle hand

in worship of the God-made-flesh

sleeping in a stable

with an awakened heart

and a human soul.

Jane Beal

from Epiphany: Birth Poems (2011)